


The Evil Intentions

by RoleplayFanfics



Series: The Evil Outside [1]
Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Body Horror, Gay, Gay Sex, Gore, Horror, M/M, Multi, Other, Relationship(s), Rewriting a story, Ruvik did nothing wrong, Ruvik's past, Sci-Fi, Smut, Survival, The Author Regrets Nothing, Video Game, filling plot holes, past trauma, the evil within - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-02 00:43:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 53,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16295051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoleplayFanfics/pseuds/RoleplayFanfics
Summary: ( That feeling when mindless smut turns into something serious. )A resummary of the story in The Evil Within, changing the perspectives and stakes of the story, and most of all exploring the nature of evil and evil intent.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't really meant to be a thing, seriously. 
> 
> This was supposed to be the equivalent of smutty shit we wrote, when Teddy wanted me to distract him, during breaks at work, rather than having his mind implode. 
> 
> Although, what started as mindless smut with a fun twist to it all slowly but surely filled out most of the plot holes in the actual game, and managed to twist the story of the game into interesting angles. 
> 
> Patience, my young padawan, and the quality will increase, which made me decide to post all of it. 
> 
>  
> 
> WARNING: The fic will contain spoilers for the content of both the first game and its DLC material. 
> 
> Teddy plays Ruvik, and Nathan plays Sebastian Castellanos.

**Sebastian:**   
An eerie and old mansion was just what he fucking needed right now; this if anything seemed straight out of a horror movie.    
  
Yet, there had been one common phenomenon to his journey, thus far, in this nightmarish Hell. He seemed to get somewhere by pushing forward; the further he went, the more he progressed to new places, which was altogether a damned lot better than being stuck in one place. Besides, no matter how strange it was to zap in and out to different places, something had just thrown him here.    
  
Just get it done with.    
  
The detective pushed the doors to the mansion open, rather glad to discover a general lack of monstrosities wanting to rip him to shreds. Great, a good start.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
A noise seemed to pass through the mansion, a noise that the man had very hard to place at first. It was familiar and yet... it seemed like the most alien thing. The doors to the mansion had opened. Had those creatures learned how to open doors now? That couldn't be.   
  
Burned hands replaced the book into the shelf, turning away from the library. As a child, this had been such a magical place, so much knowledge in one place, all the things he could learn from just opening and reading books... And now, after so many years, stuck in the basement, stuck in this place, he found himself thinking about the night it all was burn to the ground.   
  
He walked from the library, appearing on top of the stairs, looking upon his intruder. Hoh... Wasn't that... The Detective from the security room...?

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
It seemed completely abandoned, but Sebastian knew way better than to trust what his eyes were telling him, at this point.    
  
He had barely entered the place, walking just a few steps inside, to ensure he could see all the doors and corridors, trying to map the place out a bit, in his head. It was almost a tad calming to feel so alone.   
  
Of-fucking-course that did not last for long. He heard a door on the second floor open and by pure reflex his gun was pointed towards it, watching... oh fucking Hell-... that man, or monster, emerge.    
  
All of a sudden, he felt like just walking out of the damned place, quick as fuck, again. He did not want to die.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He looked down upon the man, who reminded him of a deer caught in a headlight. Or the look of a person caught in one of his elaborate traps. It was always amusing to see.   
  
This one was fighting though. His eyes had definitely not given up, even if he looked weary, tired.    
  
Out of curiosity, he began to walk towards him, towards the gun. He wanted to see the hopelessness, panic and pain in his face as the bullets wouldn't even grace him.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
The sounds of the gun firing rang out thrice, as the monster approached, before it became painfully evident that it was doing no damage to speak of, at all.    
  
"Shit."   
  
No panic, no fear, just irritation and a damned focus on how the Hell he would get away.    
  
The detective yanked at the main entrance doors, only to find them suddenly locked... "fucking-..."    
  
There was barely a mumble until the man moved, quickly sprinting past the other, and attempting to escape up the stairs. He had to find a hiding spot, somewhere to reload a better weapon.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Now, the burned man knew close to nothing about guns, except the most basic of basics. Bullet, bamn. Pain. Pretty simple and boring calculation.   
  
What wasn't boring though, was the man not losing focus but instead sprinting past him.   
  
This just got interesting... Ruvik bent the laws of physics and appeared before the detective in the stairs, calmly blocking his path. What now? Would he do something amusing again?

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Upon the man appearing in front of him in the stairway, the detective stopped, and glared at the creature of a man in front of him. 

Just like earlier, he grunted in irritation before turning to escape down again. Fucking Hell… how was he to get away from a teleporter. Well, he would be damned if he didn't try. There were corridors down there, too. Maybe if the damned thing lost sight of him, he could shake him off. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Still not a sign of fear. How come he didn't even reflect any fear in his eyes... interesting.    
The burned man turned to follow him, walking slowly before he became aware of the throbbing pain in his head. It came from around where the man had hit him, maybe he had been a little... overambitious to take them all in his head.    
  
Ruvik stopped, noting that the man has ran into the smaller dining hall.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
He entered a small dining room in a hurry, throwing the door to shut harshly behind him. Great, so a table and furniture to move around to avoid him, that's a start. The door might make no difference to a teleporter, but it was worth a shot, seeing the monster had opened a door to pass through, earlier.    
  
Quickly he shoved the gun into it's holster and unfolded the strange crossbow that he had taken a surprising liking to. Perhaps he could test just how well this man dealt with electrical shocks. He had pushed himself up against the corner, waiting, listening to the footsteps.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The headache calmed somewhat after a few minutes and he found himself able to move once again. Now where was his prey...? He stood up and stretched his back up, starting to walk again.    
  
It was all silent as he reached for the handle, pushing the door open now where was he hi- He was not hiding at all, but stood ready with a weapon.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
So far not teleporting through walls: well noted.    
  
Like that, the monster was an open target, and firing straight at his chest, the biggest hit area, was not a challenge. Damn he was relieved that he had spent a lot of years training his aim, having an interest for it even before he became a cop.    
  
Immediately, upon firing he drew another bolt, that he planned to shoot almost instantly after figuring if the first one had any effect. This one, however, was one loaded with explosives.   
At this point he considered just blowing the fucker into bits, no matter the damage it might do to the house and doorway.    
  
Who was this monstrous man that he had run into several times? The doctor had called him 'Ruvik,' Sebastian believed, and apparently he was bad news.   
  
Oh well, didn't matter if he was going to be blown to bits, anyway.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The bolt exploded into his chest, causing the thin male's body to jerk back, even if he wasn't blown out of the room, he was stuck as electricity shook his body.    
  
It stopped, and this time, he was ready for the bolt, raising his hand and made it fly to the side, exploding from there, causing him no harm. His hood had flown off, revealing a hideous sight; half a brain was clearly visible under a glass-shell, the burns all the more clear now. Ruvik felt a wave of rage and a small hint of shame pass through him. That man was looking at him...   
  
He teleported straight up in the man's face and grabbed around his throat, using his power over the world to slam him into the wall.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

It didn’t work, he would have to run-... His eyes widened just slightly at the sight of the monster, and his brain visible, and scars, but there really was just that, nothing more. Why on Earth would this, somewhat humanoid, somewhat whole, person of a monster be worse than all that he had seen so far? Opposed to that, in actuality, seeing something so human was almost a relief, a bit of a shock, and would have been a lot better if said creature didn’t try to kill him.

  
Fuck.    
  
In an instant, that he barely could comprehend, because of the sheer force and speed it all happened in, he was pressed up against a wall, desperately struggling to free himself. There was no telling what these fucking monsters could do; he half expected Ruvik to grow some mutated sharp limb to skewer him. 

He struggled to rip the hand off him, just the way any trained cop would, if someone grabbed them like that, but who could tell if it worked against a monster. Thus, his idle hand with the crossbow lashed out towards the head, trying to push the other off him, trying to hit him. He almost wished that he had not let the light in his lantern die, to make himself go unnoticed; at this point, fire seemed to be the only thing to stop these monstrosities. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Ah, he lost himself in his anger and grabbed him. Now the fun was over, this detective would just-... He was still moving, still fighting against him.   
  
In hindsight, of course the man knew self defense, policemen tended to be taught to fight without killing anyone.   
  
The grip around the man's neck was broken, his hand being pulled away and the man found himself turned around, now facing the wall just next to them. Ruben Victoriano had never once been in a fistfight, he had little to no idea how to defend or strike someone in such a battle.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
If anything, the situation felt almost bizarre. Sebastian had seen this man, this monster, do the most unsettling of supernatural things, and here he was, managing to turn him around, like any other criminal.    
  
Should he run…? Part of him wanted to figure for just how long he could keep the upper hand, like this, to figure if he had a chance at all. Letting him go, even to escape, might be suicide.    
  
Something else that was unsettling was that this Ruvik seemed to not really be… trying at all. If he could teleport around, why not just disappear from the grip and reappear behind him. If he could throw reality around, why were they still standing there.   
  
It was-... a goddamned headache.    
“Fuck, what the Hell do you want?” the detective grunted out, more out of habit and thinking out loud than expecting an answer. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
That... was not much of a fight, actually... But all the more interesting... The man slowly moved his hand up and pulled the cover over his head, feeling a lot more comfortable like this.   
  
"...What I want...? What a curious question." He turned to look behind himself, sideway glancing at the man. "What are you doing? How did you come here... Why aren't you dead yet? What causes you to keep on...?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
What the Hell.    
  
This was the most ridiculous thing he had heard in a while, and that was a pretty damn good achievement, given the fucked up situation he found himself in, and all the questions he had, about what the people he met had told him.    
  
“For now I’d be fucking grateful if you didn’t try to strangle me to death,” he spat out, evidently aggressive.    
  
“What the Hell do you mean what I am doing? I am trying to get out of this nightmare, and I didn’t choose to come here, it just fucking appeared in front of me, like things seem to do around here.”

Talking to the monster made him seem all the less intimidating. What the fuck was his deal. Sebastian had to remind himself to not let his guard down, not one bit, and still held the man in place.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
It felt strange to talk to someone that was keeping him stuck towards a wall but he supposed that he had talked to people in stranger situations.    
  
He kept his eyes on a spot on the wall, looking straight ahead. They seemed to have the same goal. "...Did you see a pale albino boy on the way here, by any chance...?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
“I might even decide to tell you, if you answer me where the fuck I am, who the fuck you are and have a civil damn conversation without trying to harm me,” he answered, still so evidently annoyed.    
  
Everything hurt, literally. How long had he been running about? He was exhausted. The detective almost felt his head spinning, but ignored it and had pushed on thus far, making him more than a little on edge. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He briefly wondered if he could trick the man that he was like him. Mh... perhaps that could be worth a try, might be humorous.   
  
"You are in the Victoriano mansion. I am trapped in here, just like you, looking for an exit. And if I remember correctly, you attacked me first."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
As nice as the thought of this monster of a man would be, if he was good and stuck in the exact same situation, part of his deductive mind refused to just buy such a statement.    
  
He let out annoyed huff and didn't let go of the other. "Forgive me if I am a little on edge, and if I find that a little hard to believe, Ruvik."    
  
The monster wasn't the only one able to play interrogative mindgames, calling the man by his name might trick some information out of him.    
  
"Are you telling me that you will not harm me if I let go? I find that a little fucking hard to believe after all that I've seen."

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Oho... Look at that, he really was a Detective; wasn't that a good little trick? He would have smiled if he had been the type to do that. It was too hard to move his lips and hurt far more than it was worth.    
  
He showed no expression or flinched, simply looking forward still. "It's not a lie. 'Seb'."   
  
He continued speaking after a short paus. His headache was getting worse, it was starting to get hard to focus... "If I simply wanted you to die, why are you still alive then?" Legs... starting to feel weaker. This was the world in his mind, why did he still have these things lingering?

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
"I am a stubborn fucker, you might have failed to kill me."   
  
The devil was revealing himself a little. All that Sebastian had understood from the doctor was that Ruvik was bad news and somehow important in all this, further he had seen this creature, or man, do the freakiest of things.   
  
"Then what  **do** you want? I am not up for any fucking psychopath games, I want out of here."

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The wall was somewhat cold, cooling his headache somewhat. Now, if he could just not press him that hard, it would be all the more pleasant. Like that was going to happen...   
  
"Aren't you capable of listening at all, Detective? I have told you twice what I want; I want out. Just like you." The man had a very emotionless voice, only carrying the hint of feelings that couldn't quite be expressed.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Alright, so this was one of those 'the person knows more than he tells' scenarios and it was aggravating to be the only one left in the dark.    
  
That Ruvik knew his name, for example, was pretty damn suspicious, and that he knew what this 'Victoriano mansion' happened to be.    
  
Sebastian didn't release the other, not yet, but relaxed just a little.    
  
"Alright, so you're trapped here, as well. Great. I am not sure I want to know what the Hell you are or what you did to be trapped here, but if you want out, can I trust you to not try to kill me if I let go? I don't have the fucking time and energy for this; I just want to find the others and get out of here."

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Was that the man relaxing? It felt like it, that most likely meant that he was starting to feel less threatened. The scientist turned to glance behind himself, studying the other's expressions.   
  
"I am... Well, it's not that important." Monster. He had always rejected the word but now it seemed very fitting, something that made his guts twist in his stomach.    
  
"Why, yes. You can let me go. No, I will not attempt to take your life with my own hands."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
It still felt odd, really, because he was quite so certain that he expected to not be able to hold the man down, if Ruvik wanted to harm him.    
  
Sebastian sighed and let go, glaring at the other in a suspicious manner, and took a few steps back.    
  
"I saw that boy a couple of times, but lost him with the others," he continued, after reminding himself that Ruvik technically speaking had answered his questions.    
  
"So... you know this mansion? I was just thrown here, and there was no way out. I am just going to assume that the way out is that huge locked door; it seems to be a common theme around here." 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
His arms were freed and he moved his hands a little, turning around towards the man. He looked over him, studying the way he looked, the roughed up hair, clothes and face. Mh. He supposed that Seb was considered attractive.   
  
He didn't waste time commenting about Leslie, but moved on to answer the questions about the exit. "I have walked around here a lot, yes. There are traps and a few... puzzles that should unlock that door. If you want to try your luck."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Let's just say that he was... wary. That doctor had said that Ruvik controlled this place, and that he wanted them dead, but even so, the devil in front of him had a point in not having tried to kill him yet.    
  
Wanting to get out, huh... For a moment, he wondered if the man would look like this on the outside, too. The more the detective had looked at him, the more he realised that Ruvik's body was burnt and scarred in much more natural and man-made ways than the mutated monsters he had met so far. He was evidently not so bad to look at, in comparison to the rest.   
  
The detective didn't quite like risking it by having the other around, but supposed he had very little choice, and sighed.    
"Great... seeing that I have nothing better to do..." he started, evidently displeased, "do you know if there's any more of those monstrous abominations here?"

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
It took the scarred man a little longer than it should have to notice that Sebastian was looking at him in return. He blinked and moved his hand up to pull at his hood, letting it cover more of his face, bathing his eyes in shadows.   
  
"Abominations..." He sounded somewhat thoughtful, looking slightly to the side. "Be more specific, what kind of abomination? What kind of creature are you asking about?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Alright, it was damned obvious that someone was concerned with his looks, which made him seem all the more human. Ruvik just had this obvious air about him of not liking to be observed, and looking much more insecure, then.    
  
Don't let your guard down. He is still dangerous.    
  
Sebastian rolled his eyes at that comment, and while he spoke, he brought his lantern up to turn it on, again. "Anything that will attack and try to rip apart, and possibly eat, either of us?"    
  
With light in his hand, he started to actually look around in the room.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
His eyes moved towards the light, and then back towards the detective. He assumed that the man was testing him, checking if the burns had caused him to fear fire. One might call that quite rude.    
  
"No. No such things. There is nothing here, on this side of the door, that will try to eat you." Ruvik moved over towards the table, sitting down on one of the chairs as the detective explored. He toyed with the idea of making something move, to see if he would jump or shoot it.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Let's just say that part of him had no fucking reason to believe anything this man said. The main reason he even asked was to have that input later when he discovered whether it was true or not; it was a good test.    
  
The detective used the light to truly have a look around, first of all noticing the gleaming of glass and blue liquid, picking up and pocketing the syringe. At least this place had useful things scattered about.   
  
Then he went back to observe that huge locked door, this time having a chance to look at the huge cable that led back into the dining area, and to a room further up.   
  
He hooked the lantern to his belt and brought the gun up, glancing once to see where he had Ruvik before he carefully opened the door.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The headaches got worse and worse, he felt the control slip from his fingers, he was not going to stand by and let the detective see him in such a pathetically weak state.   
  
When Sebastian looked back at him, the teleporter was gone, having disappeared to his own room.   
  
The world pulsed and shifted around the roughed up man, shaking the ground and making the walls tremble. A wire snapped and a small explosion was heard to the man's right, blowing up some boxes that were standing unfortunately close to said trapwire.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Fucking-... Hell he wasn't going to care. If Ruvik was gone then he'd just continue, as carefully as before, this time perhaps a bit more paranoid that the man might reappear. He really did not trust the man, mostly of all because it felt like he was toying with them. If he could influence this world, why would they all have to go through all this bullshit, if wanting out was all there was to it? Well, Sebastian didn’t claim to understand any of this shit, anyway.    
  
It wasn’t until he had carefully pressed a needle into the hole in what seemed like a living brain, on a fucking living corpse, that was breathing and blinking despite lacking a fucking torso, that he felt truly bothered by this particular place. Was this something that had been added to this place, or was there actually a real fucking place like this somewhere? There was a sudden voice, and then, when he turned around, he saw the faint, glowing traces of what seemed like ghosts, he had aimed the gun at them, but realised that they couldn’t see him. That was… the doctor, and a child, a small child. Ruben was apparently his name.    
  
Then… was this place the memory of the doctor, perhaps, if he had been there. If that was the case, the detective didn’t look forward to anything about that man, if the inside of his head was this twisted… The experiments belonged to the child? That was rather fucked up, and the doctor clearly approved of them. Something must have happened for that child to be so… morbidly curious, and focused. Strange.    
  
He progressed through the mansion from there, and nearly fucking got killed by a death snare mechanic, that he shot to bits, luckily. Fucking Hell, someone doesn’t want their memories to be explored. He had already been in the library, already found part of the button to what was probably a safe, and picked it up, since he had seen something like that, in the wall, downstairs, before.    
  
This whole place was… eerie. It was beautiful, of course, like any old mansion would be rather majestic in its way, yet, the sort of place where you’d never want to live because you’d feel like part of the decoration, and it would feel too big and impersonal. Alright, the death trap, was, as per usual hiding something; it seemed to be the Master bedroom of this place, judging by the looks of it. Finding the secret lab from there was not a challenge, since there was light glowing from further in behind the fireplace.    
  
The sight when he got back out into the room nearly startled him. The ghost of what was presumably Ruben, since he had seen paintings and there were only parents, a son and a daughter on them, and the parents were both dead, lined up against the bed frame.    
  
The kid was ruined, covered in bandages and seemed…. So hurt, really damned desperate. He wasn’t pitying the fucker, but whatever had caused those wounds, combined with clearly having been locked away in the basement, and that the mother seemed to believe that he had been dead, all that time, made it rather evident that the kid probably had some reason to kill them. No wonder the kid was messed up, if that was his parents. The little he saw kind of looked like burn marks… and he kind of recognized the voice, a little bit. Though, it was brighter, and younger and… wait a fucking second. Of course. Of fucking course.    
  
Exploration continued, and he went through rooms in the corridors, finally opening the one to Ruvik’s room, unaware that he did, but he barely had opened it to find the man lying on the bed. Oh, well so there was where he was, apparently. Fucking great, that meant it was a little less likely that he had stalked Sebastian around, or plotted something.    
  


  
**Ruvik:**   
The pain passed, ending the seizures and as he laid on the bed, they all calmed down. He was returned to his normal state of mind, just feeling... a tad of a headache, not so bad.   
  
The sound of the door opening made him slowly sit up, looking at the intruder with an almost weak look. Sebastian was holding his gun, still... supposedly, he had found a few of the traps.    
  
"Did you find any monsters, my dear Seb?" He watched him calmly.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
The man looked… almost a little sick, as if he wasn’t well, beside all the wounds on him, but they looked so old that they couldn’t likely be that painful anymore. How long time had passed since the things the detective had witnessed in this mansion. Hm.   
  
He was a little pissed, immediately, that he had to run around and do all these stupid things, and nearly get slaughtered by death traps, even if he hadn’t met any monstrosities yet; if Ruvik lived here, he could just do the things himself, damnit.    
  
He remained in the doorway for a little and leaned against it, watching the other, and crossed his arms. “No, I didn’t, but your house is rather impressive, and deadly dangerous with awful traps, Ruben.” Definitely no salt there, not one bit. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The burned man had a certain way of sitting down, it wasn't especially strange but at least curious. He didn't let his legs touch each other or the arms rest against the sides, instead, he sat with his limbs spread apart, away from each other.    
  
As his name was said directly to his face, he first looked surprised and then, anger crept over him. His pale eyes glared at the man, trying to see through him, to crush him with his eyes alone.    
  
"...I wouldn't call myself that."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Sebastian was…. Unimpressed by the glare, the man looked almost pitiful where he sat, on the bed.  He was well aware that he shouldn’t aggravate the monster of a man too much, because it might end up with him getting harmed, seriously harmed. Even so, he was fairly annoyed. “Ruvik, short for Ruben Victoriano, then, good to know. Don’t sweat it, Ruvik is just fine.” He rolled his eyes, still remaining in the doorway.   
  
“Now, if you want to get out of here, why the Hell am I running around in your home and trying to solve puzzles you probably already know the answer to? You seem like a brainiac, it’s not likely that they’re too difficult for you.”    
  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He looked a tad strange as he changes expressions, it was as if one eye had swelled slightly, or grew bigger. He had actually just lift one of his missing eyebrows, but when one did that when missing said eyebrow... it looked very strange. "Thank you for telling me about my own nickname. I would never have figured it out without you."    
  
"I would have used a different term but yes, I know the solution to all the puzzles. I also know what's behind the door you are trying to unlock." He gave a small shrug, very tempted to lay down again.

 

**Sebastian:**   
Fucking-.... The detective walked, or almost stomped, over to the bedside and glared down at the other.    
  
“Then why the fuck am I supposed to solve them or roam around here?”   
  
He was glaring at the other, and funny enough, with eyes that could burn and scare someone, under normal circumstances. He was pissed, to say the least. Was the man even serious about getting out.    
  
“Then, at least fucking tell me if I am heading the right way, or if I will find anything?”   
  
He didn’t dare to hope for much from this man. It was getting damned annoying… He was a little puzzled though. Information was vital, for any detective, and to solve most situation, to have informational input and detail. If Ruvik was the key to most of this, then information about him was good, he supposed. So far he had figured that the man was a rich little brat that enjoyed experimenting, and hated his parents. Great, a lot to go on, or not. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Somehow this situation became unreal quite quickly. As the slightly bigger male stomped over to him, he looked up at him, surprise reflecting clearly in his eyes. That had triggered another memory, one that happened just next to them.   
  
The small Ruben was sitting on the edge of the bed, his father standing before him, looking down at the boy. He was yelling, telling his unburnt child that Laura needed space and that he was too young to chase her around like he did. The memory disappeared after just a few seconds, leaving Ruvik to avoid Sebastian's eyes.    
  
"That depends on where you are heading. You have one of the dials in your pocket, did you find the second yet?" Acting like the memory hadn't happened.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Alright, it wasn’t rocket science to figure out that Ruvik’s father seemed to be an asshole. That was a good start, an unloving, horrible father that treated the child badly. Sebastian had seen way too many cases like it…. Jesus.   
  
He watched the memory, staring at the child, until it disappeared, and turned to listen what Ruvik had to say. The man seemed to try to avoid the subject of that memory, well then.    
  
“No, I haven’t, but I guess it’s somewhere around here, so if you don’t want to fucking help, I guess I will have to look until I find it,” he responded, with a sigh.    
  
“Did you make those disgusting puzzles? Also, are you the one making those ghost things or are they just… happening?”    
  
That burst of anger had faded, just a tad. Fuck it, he could talk, a little. The detective sat down on the floor, and felt how much his legs screamed for that rest he just gave them. Fuck, he was tired, and in pain. This seemed to be the only place he had found, so far, that was even remotely close to a ‘safe’ space, despite having to share it with this weird man. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He was about to answer when the detective simply sat down before him, suddenly losing all that intimidating height. Mhh. He didn't like the direct access to his face that the angle gave the ragged man.   
  
"...The bed is big enough for you to sit on as well." He moved away from the other, towards the pillows and effectively gave the male access to the foot end.    
  
"I don't recall you asking for my help." Another shrug. "Besides, you are the one who wants access to the basement, not I." He sat still, glaring into the man's face, etching every detail of him into his mind.   
  
"Yes, I made those puzzles. They are heavily based on anatomy and knowledge of the brain, meaning that, in theory, only someone with knowledge as me would be able to solve them and access the research in the basement."   
  
For a short second, something showed in his eyes before disappearing. "Memories. They aren't ghosts, they are memories. And no, they mostly appear. Did you try touching them?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
What the-... well then. He supposed being invited into the freak’s bed was not the strangest thing that had happened, under these circumstances. Besides, the idea of a soft and somewhat clean bed was pretty damn neat, if the burned man would let him, perhaps he should indulge.    
  
With a subtle pained grunt he got up from the floor, only to sit down on the edge of the bed, followed by letting himself fall backwards onto the bed, leaving only his legs, knees up, but legs bent down, outside of it. The bed felt a little too good, almost heavenly. Fuck-.. There was no time to be tired. He had to find,... okay, maybe a little bit o rest; even Sebastian knew that a little rest could make a Hell of a difference, and the difference here could mean life and death.    
  


It took a few seconds too long to recall that Ruvik had spoken, and said several things.    
“Hell no, I haven’t touched any of them, who knows what the fuck would happen if I did. I don’t want to risk anything at all.” He sighed, feeling his body relax a little too much for his own good.    
  
“So, the puzzles are made for basically only you or a neurosurgeon to have the knowledge open them? Too bad they weren’t that difficult then, because I sure as Hell am not a neurosurgeon. I am not particularly searching for the basement-...” evidently, he realised something and turned his head, “the basement where you were locked away, no? There’s no other space in this house where one could hide that well… I am not trying to find that place, not in particular, I am just trying to get out, meaning I have to get forward, somehow.” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
"Ah." That was disappointing. Nothing at all to learn of add to his knowledge. Hahh. Disappointing indeed.   
  
He scooted back and rested his body back against the pillows but then... Sebastian continued to speak. He blinked, looking down at the man. Was he insulting his puzzles? How dared he make fun of him like this...?    
  
Basement... damned... why had he figured this all out so quickly... "...Aren't you clever? Yes. That basement was my world for many years."

  
  


**Sebastian:**

The more the detective watched the burned man, the more… tragic he looked. Anyone would be quite fucked up being put through something like that; the more Sebastian saw, the more he realised that what actually amazed him a tad was just how calm and rational Ruvik seemed. 

“Eh, it's my job to figure things out.” it was a kind of simple statement; it was evident that Ruvik should be uncomfortable, understandably so, leading to the detective reminding him of the fact that he didn't actually care, like that. 

Fuck, the bed felt good… Damnit, fine. He kicked his shoes off and drew his legs up a little, taking a few deep and long breaths, while putting an arm over his face. 

“Mnh… Fuck, this feels better than it should; I should get going.” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Pale eyes studied the other male as he pulled his legs up. Yes, the man was certainly considered handsome, not that he had those attractions. He never had.   
  
It hit him that this man was the first ever to lay in his bed but him. That thought felt... strange. Mh. He felt a strange itch in his fingers, as if he wanted to play with something. Ridiculous.   
  
"Don't you look comfortable? Weren't you fearing for your life just a few seconds ago...?" He made that strange expression again, raising an invisible eyebrow.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

“Why? Want to throw me out?” 

The detective couldn't see Ruvik’s expression from under his arm, with his eyes closed, but after a while, he turned to lazily gaze at the other again. 

“I did, with good reason,” he started, letting his arm just fall to the bed, beside his head. 

“However, you can move in some weird supernatural way, basically teleport. That means I wouldn't be safe from you anywhere in this mansion, am I wrong? There's no damn point to run from what you can't avoid; you don't seem awfully keen on killing me, right now.”

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He avoided the other's eyes as they were turned towards him. That was... strange. He was very uncomfortable with the male looking at him, resulting in him tugging his hood down further.    
  
"Is that not what I have been telling you from the beginning? If I wanted you dead, you would already be dead."    
  
Was he still looking? The burnt man peeked out before hiding again. Yes, apparently he was. Damn…

  
  


**Sebastian:**

“I had no reason to trust your word, I have seen you kill before,” he pointed out, still watching the other.

Hah, well wasn't that fucking grand; the man that seemed to terrify everyone so was hiding from the detective’s gaze. Cute, in some morbid, strange, fashion, probably having to do with Sebastian’s sudden change of reference frames, or maybe his expectations of the other. 

He gave it a rest and turned to stare at the ceiling again.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He hesitated for a bit before speaking again. "Yes, I killed the men that were shooting at me, trying to kill me." He explained calmly, his eyes a bit darker. It was easier to look at Seb when he wasn't looking back.    
  
"...That seems wise. Not trusting people is a rather good way to survive." He thought of Marcelo and the other's eyes as... No, not now.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

At that comment, he glanced back for a moment, and then closed his eyes and sighed. 

“As much as I want to call that bullshit… I can see why that would happen, yes. Especially if the staff and patients were already dead and they saw you… damn, those were some good people, that I knew.” 

It was a little annoying that he couldn't quite muster to blame the other; everyone did what they had to survive, that's what he had done ever since he was thrown into this place. The lack of blame and hostility was probably visible. He might have wanted to take out anger on the burn victim before he was thrown into this world, but compared to all the rest now, those deaths seemed so normal and far away in memory; Sebastian was far too exhausted for being angry about it now.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
What a strange reaction; there was no anger or hatred towards him for killing those men, that the detective had known, only sadness that they were gone. Mh. He wished he had his recording tools so that he could note this all down.    
  
"You... are a strange man." He couldn't figure out anything else to say, not right now.

 

**Sebastian:**

“You're one to talk,” he retorted lazily and let his eyes remain closed. 

“Will you mind if I rest my eyes for a bit?” 

Damn, he was exhausted, perhaps not sleepy per definition, but his whole body screamed at him to rest.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Was he still a man...? Ruvik didn't really see himself as one, especially not when he was just a dissected brain in a jar. This form was temporary, he wasn't a human anymore, was he? He needed to get a body, to synchronize and... become a person again.   
  
Ruvik snapped back to the present when the man spoke to him, looking over at him. "...The side with the pillows is more comfortable. I suppose you can lay next to me if you want to rest." The offer seemed.. lewd. He wondered why… 

  
  


**Sebastian:**

“Don't mind if I do,” he responded and forced strength into his body, enough to lazily drop down on the pillows beside the man. 

Despite being so tired he was still observing and gathering information about the other; all these things revealed more about Ruvik, telling Sebastian more exactly what he was dealing with. 

Once more, he lazily glanced over at Ruvik; the man did not seem very used to social interactions. Part of him wanted to know who this man was, and why it was relevant. 

Lazily Sebastian moved his hand over, closer to the other's wrist, not quite grabbing him, being careful, almost as when approaching a frightened animal, without really seeming to. “Does it hurt, still? All that, I mean.” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Sebastian was a lot heavier than Ruvik and when the man fell down, he bounced slightly. Strange... a man was lying beside him in his bed...    
  
He looked up in the roof, trying to figure out what he was supposed to think and feel when something touched his wrist. He wasn't too burned over his arms, the hands were a lot worse. He could feel the touch, something so alien and strange to the man that he flinched away.   
  
"...w...w..." he didn't manage to understand the words until after looking at the other like a confused child. "Ah, no... Not... well, sometimes, phantom pain hits me, but the side effects have always been worse than the burns. It was 27 years ago, they won't heal better than this." He glanced at his hand, watching the light hit the wrinkled skin.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Well, Ruvik did a rather phenomenal job in not being one bit scary; even having been almost scared of him before started seeming ridiculous. Of course, Sebastian was still aware that he was dangerous. 

Desperate situations could lead to desperate measures; he hadn't intended to be all chummy with Ruvik, but realised that it would do well to not be disliked by the man, even more so as the detective walked into his memories and past, which people tended to be very sensitive about. 

Calmly, ignoring the flinch, he reached out to trail the outline of his fingers down to Ruvik's burned hands. “Then, do you feel anything or are the nerves too damaged?” 

27 years, huh… said a bit about the age of the other, much older than the detective had expected. “Those scars and that thing on your head aren't from the same time, are they? That one looks manmade, and burns like these are too randomly spread to likely be inflicted with precision.” 

He wondered if he could get any of what happened out of Ruvik. At least, he hoped to prove that he wasn't as disgusted by the other as the man seemed to expect one should be.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
What sort of technique was this? What was he trying to do? What was... the feeling of those big fingers disappeared and he looked downright confused still. What was happening...   
  
"..." it took a few seconds for him to realize Seb had spoken to him again. "I... I... can't feel anything on or around the burns, no." Was he holding his hand...?    
  
"... No, they... are different... The burns happened when I was ten, the others... happened much later..."

  
  


**Sebastian:**

He wasn't all that sure of exactly what he was doing, and none of it was particularly planned. Sebastian was a tad too tired to be particularly aggressive, and realised that this sort of thing only possibly could do good to him, under these circumstances. He was learning a lot of interesting facts. Maybe if he talked more to Ruvik, he wouldn't be so damned left in the dark. 

Criminal-psychiatry had never been his thing, that was the sort of thing you called in experts for; he wouldn't have to deal with being all sugary sweet and careful, trying to get on the psychopaths’ good sides. 

Ruvik just…. He was something different entirely. The detective had as much reason to trust the doctor as he had to trust this man: no reason at all. The things the burn victim had been through was that sort of one in a million thing, or even less, given that Sebastian knew of no similar incident to this, thus far. 

The fucked up world which the detective found himself in kind of changed the rule of the game. 

“Ah, yeah that's understandable. What the Hell is that thing on your head, though? Did you actually consent to that?”

It was hard to put it into words, truly. He wanted to know if he was right about his guess of that too being forced upon Ruvik, given all he had seen at Beacon Mental Hospital. 

He looked a little concerned, but not disgusted. Who the fuck wouldn't be concerned? These sort of things were of the sort that no one should go through. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He looked uncomfortable as he asked about the brain, avoiding the other's strange eyes.    
  
"Consented to this, no... I didn't consent to becoming... this." He once again found himself pulling on his hood, hiding his face further.   
  
"...I suppose this is fitting for me, in his eyes..." He added silently, turning away from the man, effectively hiding his visible brain against the pillows.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Not even a psychopath deserved the things Sebastian had seen and heard so far. Now, he wouldn’t play any damn guessing games, but it was worth considering exactly what was going on, and trying to figure something out, at the very least.  Besides, it was getting harder and harder to see Ruvik as something dangerous, or well, as a monster; right now he was more like a person, and people could always be dangerous, that didn’t mean you had to treat them like monsters.    
  
He shrugged, looking casually at the man that was trying to hide so much, slowly letting go of him, relaxing back again. “So… did the doctor have something to do with this? The one that was with us, I mean, since he knew you, as a child.”    
  
Casual conversation, it was all that was needed, really. Sebastian had relaxed back properly, nearly, just nearly, enjoying himself, in some morbid fashion of safety in contrast to all that he had to experience upon arriving in this place. Ruvik seemed somewhat easy to handle, because he was logical and didn’t freak out, and the reactions he had to the touch and normal social behaviour showed that not everything seemed to be an act to make Sebastian feel safe, it was a little difficult to act those parts. Fuck, well, never too late to start playing mental games, he supposed.    
  
“I wouldn’t call this sort of fucked up thing fitting for any person, no one should have to have that happen,” he said, surprisingly casually, as if it was just an obvious fact, and nothing he was emotionally invested in. It wasn’t even that special of a statement, for any normal person it was balantly obvious.

 

**Ruvik:**   
Was it strange that he instantly wanted to have the man touch him again? It was probably rather logical, by psychological standards, but for him, Ruben Victoriano, to feel these strange emotions and wants that he hadn't before,  was this Seb’s plan all along? To make him... feel?   
  
He didn't look at him, kept on staring into the wall without speaking for a while. Deserve it... deserve..   
  
"...It doesn't matter anymore. Why are you asking so many things...? What are you trying to accomplish by not... treating me like everyone else?"

 

**Sebastian:**   
“Eh, why, do you want me to treat you like everyone else do? How am I supposed to do that when I have no damn clue how people tend to treat you?”    
  
“It’s my job to be nosy, and besides, I literally have nothing better to do, in here, at this point, when only you are here. Are we just supposed to stare at the wall and pretend the other doesn’t exist?” The detective was speaking very matter-of-factly, seemingly just a little lost to Ruvik’s way. 

He understood, he wasn’t stupid. At this point it was pretty much obvious that the man next to him was the kind of person that had been mistreated, to a level completely new to the detective, even, to the point where Rubik had forgotten how normal people behave.    
  
“What’s wrong with being just civil? There’s a lot of worse things around here, a decent conversation with an actual person isn’t that bad.” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He gazed at the man with a nervous look, really unsure what to do and say. How did one handle things like this...?   
  
"Like...." he turned back on his back to look at the man, looking deep into those dark, brown, perhaps even beautiful eyes. This was really... strange.    
  
It felt like the man was just turning his world over, so very easily.He wasn't sure how to answer... how did one... handle these things?   
  
"Ah... uhn... hn..." Ruvik ended up laying on the side, just unsure.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Cute. 

Morbidly, strangely cute. 

Whatever the fuck was going on was definitely favorable to the previous scenario of expecting Ruvik to want him dead. 

Sebastian wasn't naive enough to think that a little kindness would change things, that wasn't it, but he'd much rather see the cute and insecure man, reminding a little of Joseph, on the rare occasions when said man was taken by surprise, than fear for his life. 

He really wanted to figure out the goals here; was Ruvik really all which they feared, or was there more to the situation. 

“I get it, people tend to be stupid as fuck,” he commented, calmly, and out of pure habit reached out to pet Ruvik's head, once, in a sort of friendly-buddy-brotherly manner.

  
  
**Ruvik:**   
If his confusion was big before, it was nothing compared to when his head was straight up patted. How in the world was he supposed to react to that...?   
  
He could feel the scent of the man, sweat as well as the man's natural smell. This made him aware that he himself had no scent of his own. Should he make one? What smells did Sebastian like? What was he thinking...?    
  
The hand retreated and he reached out, grabbing his arm. It looked like he was about to try and break it but instead, he pulled the hand closer to himself.    
  
"...Don't... stop."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck, something had to be wrong with him to find Ruvik somewhat cute, in some weird pitiful way; maybe he was going mad from all this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut ahoy!

**Sebastian:**   
He didn't flinch, but did tense for a second when Ruvik grabbed his arm, ready to fend him off in case of being attacked.   
  
When no such thing happened, the detective relaxed again and sighed, rolling his eyes subtly, finding it strange that he had the energy to let a subtle, amused grin spread over his lips.    
  
Fuck, something had to be wrong with him to find Ruvik somewhat cute, in some weird pitiful way; maybe he was going mad from all this.    
  
"Fine," he commented. Pushing the hood away from Ruvik's head a little, finding his cheek with a soft touch.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He was clearly uncomfortable to have his hood removed, clearly uncomfortable with showing the hideous burns that made him into such a freak. Yet Sebastian just... touched him, placed his hand on the burn victim’s cheek.   
  
Had he gasped? He probably had... an ocean of emotions washed over him. So many and so much that he felt himself shut them down to avoid a panic attack. What else was to be expected of a man in Ruvik’s situation.    
  
However, the world around them wasn't as steady. It shook and pulsed, a loud, piercing noise screeching through the poor detective's head.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

The world shook, and a sound that seemed like it was out to kill his hearing made Sebastian flinch and close his eyes, retracting the hand back to grab his own forehead… fuck that hurt. 

This went fast from cute reactions to horrid things of this world… damnit. Ugh. Fuck. There was no real telling whether it was Ruvik's doing or not, but he had a suspicion. “Calm… down…” he hissed, clearly in pain, and not showing any other emotions. 

“What the Hell… is… that.. mh..!” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He realized what was happening when Sebastian started to twist and groan in pain. He opened his mouth and then shut it again, making everything stop. Just... stop.   
  
He looked at the man, this time clearly nervous when scooting closer to him. "...I... didn't... mh. Are you... mn..." Please touch me again... don't make me.... I... don't leave...    
  
A weak hand grabbed the other's vest, silently begging him to stay and not be mad.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Fuck…. That was painful. Some damn good relief washed over him when it just disappeared again, all of a sudden. It hurt a little too much to focus immediately, but once he could, Sebastian realised that Ruvik had grabbed onto him, maybe just a tad desperately. 

The Hell,... the man was acting almost like a puppy aware that he did something wrong, looking ashamed.

So, Ruvik seemed to have lost control, much like Leslie had, on the few occasions the detective had run into that mental patient. Fucking… oh well, Sebastian didn't manage to feel annoyed about that. It was too… sense making that Ruvik might not be that stable. 

Then,what now? Eh, he could just damn well see to being a comfort, he supposed, and wrapped his arm around the other, in a somewhat protective manner. “Ugh… I’m fine, please don't do that again…” he grunted out, the pain slowly fading, like a bad hangover. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He was suddenly pressed close to the male's chest, feeling the ghost of an arm around his body. He could feel the fabric against his nose, against his cheek. Oh God...   
  
The feeling was heavenly, something he had no idea that he desired so badly. He moved in closer, letting his burnt body hide against the man's dirty body.    
  
"...Mn." he had no idea he could make such a soft noise.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
... ... So much for scary killer.    
  
Fine, Sebastian could admit to himself that he wanted to know more. Wasn't it the job of a detective to find out the truth.    
  
He wanted to know exactly who Ruvik was, what happened, and how he ended up in here. Wanted to find out who was actually the enemy.    
  
His fingers started tracing the fabric over the back of the man in his arms.    
  
The screeching noise and following pain had made Sebastian even more tired than previously, finding a lot of comfort in resting; having Ruvik in his arms, in this state of mind, made it a lot easier relax, as it statistically reduced the risk of the burnt man turning against him in his sleep.    
  
He let out a yawn and kept the man close; it wasn't rocket science to figure how badly Ruvik might need this. Hell, if this meant the detective wasn’t going to be gutted by deformed monsters, then so be it, weird as the situation was.   
"Fuck, my head hurts..  I should rest for a bit," he mumbled out and closed his eyes.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He could feel something by his back. At first, it was hard to figure it out but when it hit him, it seemed so obvious. Seb was touching him... stroking over his back.    
  
So warm and pleasant... The burn victim slowly let his eyes close, one hand still holding onto Seb while the other had ended up somewhere under him. It didn't really matter if that arm would be a bit squished,  it was just fine this way...   
  
He was getting sleepy as well, the very position and the strange feeling of comfort and safety was making him just as drowsy. He was starting to fall asleep as well, letting his body relax.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
When the detective came to it again, he found himself with what can only be compared to a light headache, compared to his previous exhausted state.    
  
He let out a grunt and stretched a little, finding that he was completely tangled up with another person-...    
  
Fuck, right.    
  
It took far too many moments, and one of the longest sessions of internal cursing in his life, for Sebastian to realise and accept the fact that he was still stuck in what could only be described as Hell, with a mysterious killer in his arms, cuddling up to him like a love-starved puppy.    
  
Damnit-... it would have been such a nice thing to wake up from the fucking nightmare.   
  
He glanced down at Ruvik, wondering if the man was awake.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Sleeping in this world was surprisingly similar to the real world. When Ruvik slept, he wasn't in pain or distress, he just blacked out and didn't suffer.   
  
The man slowly came back to awareness. He opened his eyes slowly, gazing straight at the other male's chest. He blinked slowly, before shifting to check if the man was awake, only to find that Sebastian was looking at him.    
  
"Good... Morning...."

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Was that it…? ‘Good morning,’ as if it was something normal, some damned routine. It was intriguing, given just how on edge Ruvik had been, previous to them falling asleep. 

So far, nothing of what the burnt man had told the detective had proved to be a lie, which was a generally good start, like the promise that there wouldn't be any monstrous creatures to disturb them, or that Ruvik didn't have reason or a want to harm him. It was… a decent start, given the weird fucking circumstances, but could definitely drastically improve.

“...Morn,’ or something like that, is there actually such a thing as morning here?” Sebastian asked, only half-interested.

He let his hand, arm still around the other, trace the parts of Ruvik's back that weren't covered in burns. Right, the younger recalled how he was obviously losing his mind and found that the monster of a man, in his arms, was somewhat cute, like a lost stray in desperate need of some caring, and he was doing this, so that he wouldn’t have to be playtoy for sadistic monstrosities.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
His mind was racing, it was too hard to figure out something to say, too hard to know what to do or how to act. Good morning was the only thing that he could think of. Was it good enough? How long hadn't it been since he had told anyone good morning? What a strange feeling, how... very... strange...   
  
Looking at the ragged man proved quite hard, making the so called nightmare fuel press his nose against the other's chest, hiding from the strange emotion inside of him.    
  
"No. I don't believe there is." He threw himself at the opportunity to answer instead of coming up with a topic of his own.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

“Is there even a concept of time…?” He sighs and mumbles under his breath, as he lets the arm tighten around Ruvik, figuring that said sorry excuse of a man would like it, more than he probably expected. He'd likely feel protected, just as those evenings Myra had long evening shifts, coming home to just let the world disappear, to the little world of safety in her husband’s arms… Fuck, wrong trail of thought. Abort. 

The detective was silent for a while, before he spoke; “am I stuck like that, too, asleep or drugged in some weirdly shaped bathtub with needles connected to my damn spinal cord…?” 

He wanted some more truth, which he found that Ruvik owed him, at this point. The comment about time was mostly just him grumbling in annoyance at all of this, he didn’t particularly need an answer.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
What a strange question; he lift his head a little, realizing that looking at the male's face from this angle was impossible and so, he surrendered to his chest once more. He got hugged again, feeling the warmth of another body against his. Pleasant.   
  
"That completely depends on what you are asking, more specifically. Time always exist, at least in this world. Your body will always experience some sort of time passing, even if time won't really work the same as you are used to. I would say that time exist, yes, but not in a manner that you would be familiar with. I... have yet to figure out for how long I have been in here, in the world outside. What date was it when you came to Beacon?"    
  
The last question was easier to answer. "Yes. You are. As are all of you."

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Ruvik truly was one of those science brainiacs, alright; it became too evident in his all too thorough response to something the detective already knew. 

The last answer made him tense up visibly, and he struggled a little, but saw to that the wave of distress and anger he felt wouldn’t make him squeeze the man in his arms too hard. 

“Fucking splendid....” he mouthed, with a weird mix of a sigh and a grunt following up. 

He needed to take a few calm breaths before he could speak again. “Mid-May something, the 16th, maybe, 2015.” 

There was a pause again. “Would you help me out, since you actually know what is going on; you want out too, after all?” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He could very well tell that the man was uncomfortable, to say the least, about being connected to his machine. Part of him was annoyed to see such a negative reaction to his work and another was amused that the idea of being connected to it, but still alive and in a body. That was horrible. Heh.    
  
"2015...?" He repeated, looking somewhat amused. "Only two years, I thought it had been longer."    
  
The next question made the burned man sit up somewhat, looking down at Sebastian. "You want me to assist you? Why would I do such a thing? What would I gain from that?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Alright, here-fucking-goes; Sebastian looked up at Ruvik as if it was blatantly obvious. 

“Let's get this straight, you sound like you've been locked up here for years against your will. You obviously haven't gotten out yet, “ he started. 

“You look like someone that could do with some help, and I definitely need some kind of help, I don't know shit about this place.”

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He was trying to strike a deal... oho. The burned man looked him over, leaning his head to the side and just observed for a few seconds.   
  
"I can't keep you safe during that ride. You will have to keep on fighting for yourself. Also... I need that boy. I will need him." He stared down at him, as if expecting the man to voice complaints immediately.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Sebastian looked at him, a little intrigued how quickly Ruvik changed attitude again; this was something that made the man seem a little more in his element. It changed profoundly, back to the scientist that seemed to have been betrayed by all the people around him, the mysterious man that had killed so many people that the detective had known.    
  
He remained still, remaining as relaxed as he had with Ruvik in his arms, but his gaze at the other was unwavering. “The doctor said you had conscious influence over this place, you sure you can’t do anything about all the shit that’s out there?” He was a little doubtful, and most of all, he wanted to know more.    
  
He sighed, “I am not asking to be protected, I am doing pretty damn fine on my own, actually. I am just asking for a clue of what the fuck is going on here, and for us to be civil enough to let the end goal of getting the Hell out of here meet.”    
  
“... Why do you need that kid? Does he have something to do with this, too?”

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
His eyes turned colder when he said doctor, not because he knew exactly who it was but because the memories connected to the word was bad.    
  
"What he said and what the truth is are two very different things, Sebastian. Yes, I do have conscious influence over a few things in this world but I cannot control all of it. For example, I can't control the Haunted. They move and do things on their own. Most of this world is memories and places, mixed together, except the mansion here, which I remember very well. I have the ability to create a few creatures, copies of myself, but there are bigger monsters that I have no control over." He looked somewhat nervous as he said that. "They... might have come from me but I don't choose what they do."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Sebastian listened, paying proper attention.    
  
“Look, I’m not asking for the impossible, you’ve been here for two years and know the things I don’t. I am doing… pretty damn decent for being stuck in this fucking nightmare fuel. I just think I will do a great deal better if you don’t try to kill me on sight, and if I know what the fuck is going on here, instead of having to run around left in the dark.”    
  
Did Ruvik avoid the question about Leslie? Apparently so.    
“You didn’t tell me why you need the boy. Further, I need to find Joseph and Kidman; we are all getting the fuck out of here, and I do need your help.”    
  
He closed his eyes briefly, and opened them again, letting out a small sigh, it still felt quite good to be remotely safe, in a soft bed. If Ruvik would just actually be of any help, perhaps things weren’t all that hopeless. So far, everything the man had said had turned out to be true, and the memories seemed to line up with what he knew, too, meaning that the one more likely to have lied and kept secrets would be that doctor. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He had been a tad too busy to speak of logical things, than to answer the question of why he wanted to find Leslie. Not to mention, he had a feeling that Sebastian wasn't likely to approve of his escape plan.    
  
"Well then. If you truly believe in that idea, I may as well come along with you and... not move creatures towards you," he didn't completely agree to the proposal yet.   
  
"Mn." The burned man slowly nodded. He had nothing to lose on coming along, he could always just kill Sebastian if he became a danger. Perhaps the patient would be happier to come to Seb than him.   
  
He looked over at the other man, seeing the outlines of his body through the clothes. He now realized something that he could do... something... He had desperately needed, wanted, but had excluded from his view of the world and things he would ever experience in his life. This was probably his only chance.   
  
The burned man leaned in, looking straight at his face. "I will help you, come with you. Fo that, I want two things. One, I want the boy. Two, I... want to have intercourse with you."

  
  


**Sebastian:**

It seemed like he could strike a deal with the devil, after all. No matter whether the deal would be successful, it was still better than no deal at all. 

The detective didn't quite like not knowing why Ruvik was phrasing his words so weirdly, around the topic of finding Leslie; ‘wanting’ the boy didn't have the same ring to it as wanting to find him. He supposed he might need some more time to find out-...

What the fuck…? 

Did the burn victim just…? Yes, he didn't mishear him, or did he? 

Sebastian looked honestly taken aback, not quite disgusted or displeased, at least not yet, but rather as if the man’s words were the very last that he had expected. 

“You… want what..? Sex? Did I just hear you right?” 

Upon realising that Ruvik had said the exact damn words that the detective thought he had heard, the first thought of his was surprisingly: “Can you actually have sex? Won't it hurt you?” 

It took a few moments longer to even problematize his own position in this weird fucking situation. 

“Is… that a must for the deal?”

Fuck, it probably meant a lot to Ruvik, but even under these circumstances, could he truly have sex with this disfigured man without hurting him with lack of attraction and interest. Hurting Ruvik, or betraying the deal, seemed like an awful plan, he… could he get around this? 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Perhaps this had been a very bad idea to let his body rule over him. He looked at the man's face and felt as if he was looking into a pair of disgusted eyes, projecting his own insecurities into the eyes that looked at him. What had he been thinking? It was a foolish notion of impulse, reminding the scientist just why he never acted on impulse.   
  
He sighed and disappeared from the bed, appearing at his desk, sìtting on the chair. "No, it is quite fine without it. It is still a deal."    
  
Would sex actually hurt him? What didn't hurt him... Everything was painful and his body had always been on the verge of collapse. Would sexual contact truly do more harm than good? Could he even feel it? He wanted it so much, and still, asking about it and being rejected felt utterly horrible.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

He tensed up for a second, when Ruvik disappeared and reappeared elsewhere, visibly relaxing once he knew where he had the man; Sebastian had obvious reasons to not trust the man fully.   
  
After the shock settled a little bit, Sebastian’s thinking gears finally started spinning their way again, and figured that Ruvik must be… nervous, a wreck possibly. Who wouldn’t be? It was the simplest of logic, because someone that was even remotely like what the detective had seen so far, was not likely to ever have had sexual intercouse, and pretty much everyone wanted that, at least once in their lives. 

It was… cute, in a disturbing way. Sebastian almost wanted to smack himself in the face for considering it, but there would be a sort of empowering feeling, in this nightmare, to have control over and fuck the monster of a man that he was facing. It would, admittedly, even if it was irritating to even note, be a relief, in general. 

Sebastian sat up in the bed, wrinkling his eyebrows once in reaction to the slight nausea that came with the movement; luckily, it disappeared as quick as it appeared. It made it easier to look at the other from that position, to study him. There was a risk with getting too involved with someone like Ruvik, but at the same time, given the crazy circumstances, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to get the sentimental part, that was obviously there in the other, out a little bit. Ending up as that one person to treat the mistreated person normally often left bigger traces, and he didn’t want the man to be able to just kill him off, without hard feelings… there could be a point to it, to get under his skin.

He looked at the other, calmly, and spoke, “I am not going to take any responsibility for whether or not you get hurt; you don’t look to be in shape to have sex.” It was deadpan truth, and just something he was going to damned well make clear, before anything else. He was definitely not the prude to not talk about such an intimate thing, it couldn’t bother him less; besides, he had nothing left to lose, and he’d do anything to get out of this mess.    
  
“If… I am to do it, I want to know why you need Leslie; I want the truth, then that’s a deal, too.” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Ruvik had been standing with his body away from Sebastian, terribly aware of the way his uneven skin felt against more normal skin. He might have even fumbled with something, if he had been able to reach something. Then, the man spoke words that he never believed that he would hear.    
  
He disappeared and appeared right in front of Sebastian in the bed, sitting on his knees, leaned forward.    
  
"I am not in risk of dying from simple intercourse with you, Seb." He almost felt like smiling. "I am curious to if I can even feel it, I know the limits of my body better than you ever will and... Mh. That wasn't important."   
  
Maybe this was his only ever chance to feel it.   
  
"...Mn." he looked over the man's face and then, slowly nodded. "I agree to your terms. How does one go about this?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Funny, he didn't flinch upon suddenly having Ruvik more or less appear in his face. Was he seriously getting used to the damn teleporting, or was he perhaps getting less and less wary around Ruvik, who knows.    
  
How.. childishly excited? Was this the excitement of a scientist, who seeked the truth, or was it a man that yearned for physical touch?  Probably both, yeah, both will do. 

What the fuck had he just given consent to. Let’s just say that clueless virgins weren’t exactly his type, if anything Sebastian appreciated experienced women that knew what they wanted. Sex was a lot more enjoyable when both parties included knew what they wanted and weren’t afraid to take it; Myra had been just that, even from the very start… Goddamnit. This was a little new, awkward, no mood or attraction, well not from his part, anyway. However, he supposed he would have to do with this situation. Right. Fuck, well.    
  
Ruvik was very close; oh well, here goes, it was not like they were in a hurry.    
  
The man couldn’t possibly weigh that much, could he; Sebastian reached out and rather quickly and swiftly wrapped hands around the other’s thighs, and in one strong movement pulled him into his lap, seeing that he had been sitting up, deciding upon it being a better angle. He leaned in and placed a short lived kiss on the other’s lips, wrapping an arm around his lower waist. So… he supposed he was in charge. Alright, it was a little intriguing to see just how much he could mess the other up, he needed to think in some fucking positive way, anyway. “Can you feel your lips?” he asked, seemingly more out of curiosity than concern.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Touching something was supposed to be so very easy. The act was so simple, reaching out and let one's fingers rest onto a surface or a person. People were generally unable to keep track of the countless things they had touched over their years. No one could keep track of the hands they had shaken, of the people they had accidentally bumped into. Ruben Victoriano had never experienced things like that, not like a normal person.   
  
Being touched by Sebastian, being pulled into his arms, his lap, it was something that he couldn't place... he lacked words to describe the feelings that stabbed through his chest and the thoughts that raced in his brain.    
  
K...kiss. That, truly, wasn't something he had had experienced before... how could that stupid touch of mouths mean so much.   
  
Ruvik parted his lips, trying to tell the man that he could barely feel them but yes, especially the upper lip, he could feel with that, and his tongue. Both were able to feel just fine.   
  
"...Yhhnn."   
  
...what was that?    
  
Did that come from him?    
  
What?

  
  


**Sebastian:**

So far… so good? Hell, it could be worse, he supposed. The lips felt remotely normal, even, and given Ruvik's reaction, Sebastian assumed that it didn't hurt. Rather, the reaction he got made the detective surprisingly content, given how good it felt to break off that constant fear of losing his life, when that the situation had changed in his favour, and given the fact that Ruvik became nothing but a normal person, insecure, needy, and evidently a little scared. There was something that, under these circumstances, turned Sebastian on slightly about it, to just have the upper hand and control of the man, to break the illusion of a monster. 

He sneaked his arms around the burnt man’s waist, tracing and looking for exactly where Ruvik could still feel; soon, his hands found the hem of those trashed trousers, sneaking fingers in below. 

They were definitely not in a hurry; Sebastian used the position of his arms to push Ruvik forward just a little until their lips connected again.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
It was all so very strange to him. The touches should be familiar, and they should not be this surprising, he had done many experiments in his days, he knew exactly how a body should and would react to that type of stimuli and still... it made him feel so shaken... so... touched. Emotions he couldn't name kept dashing around in his mind, making the world around them blurry and disoriate. It wasn't dangerous, simply that the awareness of his old home had disappeared. Only Sebastian, his hands, his touches, and the bed mattered right now.   
  
The scarred man jumped slightly when fingers found their way into his pants, not really touching anything but the feeling itself was... shocking.   
  
Then he was kissed, lips against lips, his own fingers clenching the fabric of the detective's vest, not wanting him to disappear.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

His eyes weren’t closed, not even half the time, but at least, he kept them closed when kissing Ruvik. Sebastian found that he was damned surprisingly alright with the horrid appearance of the man in his arms; given his circumstances, who really gave a fuck, if all he was going to do was get out of this fucked up place, and live. It didn’t repel him completely to watch the man like this; he still enjoyed every reaction the self-proclaimed scientist was showing.    
  
It didn’t take long for the hand underneath the hem of the pants moved further down the back, exploring the skin, trying to figure out just how scarred the area would be, and if the man would be fine. After a bit, he brought one hand up to his lips, leaning back a little to coat the fingertips with saliva, not trying to be sensual or romantic in any sense, but he still kept on looking at the man, looking him into the eyes. He let the hand back down, attempting to push against the outer ring of the man’s anus, softly.    
  
Sebastian stopped, however, and looked at the man, after having a glance around.    
“Where-... are we still in the mansion…? Is this place safe to continue?” He wasn’t that very worried. Ruvik didn’t seem to mind and he couldn’t mind less, if this place was safe; it just seemed damn well clever to at least make sure.

  
  
**Ruvik:**   
Ruvik was at a loss of words, as he watched the man suck on his own fingers, watched them come towards him, closer to the place he never imagine would he touched. To prepare for an act that seemed so very far from his grasp. This... this was... truly like a dream...    
  
Then the hand was removed, shattering the illusion of warmth that had been so close to him. Feelings of betrayal and pain stabbed into the burned man, hatred flamed in his eyes and Sebastian was slammed into the wall behind him, stuck there like a cruzified mockery of a doomed prophet. The mansion returned around them as the male glared at the one that took the hopes of... warmth away from him.   
  
"Are you going back on your word...? How could...! I believe you would... with..." There was hurt in his eyes, betrayal and pain, not to mention shame, shame for his desires.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, smut initiated. One more chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “... Sorry, if I was being too rough, it’s been a fucking Hellish day.” Ugh. Fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actual smut ahoy!
> 
> Here comes a bit of a quality decrease too, given how sporadically and over what a long time this part was written.

**Sebastian:**   
What the f-...!

The detective gasped and let out a pained grunt, as he was slammed into the wall, forced in place, and all of a sudden, they were back in the mansion and oh-.. Fucking Hell. Right, yes, he was well aware that the man that had been on top of him, squirming, just now, was dangerous, but fuck could he chill for a goddamn moment.    
  
The man in front of him looked-... strangely vulnerable, for being that dangerous. Alright, focus, don’t get angry because he’s an emotional fucking twat, it’s not going to help you.    


Sebastian sighed and rolled his eyes, “no, I sure as fuck don’t go back on my word, but it’s a little difficult to continue when stuck like this, you need to fucking calm down a little, it was just a damned question” he deadpan stated, looking at the other, completely unafraid, and mostly a little annoyed. Fine, he got it, Ruvik was hurt, really, and vulnerable because of his fears. He sighed, forcing, truly forcing his expression a little, just tiny bit, softer.    
  
“Will you let me continue?” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He looked up at the male with a somewhat uncertain look on his face. Then the man eased up and everything felt easier... Ruvik lowered his hand and let the man down on the bed. He wasn't sure how to go on from that but slowly crawled over and up into the other's lap, like he had been before that... outburst.   
  
No, his cheek was not red. Not at all. He avoided to look at Sebastian because he wanted to. Yes.    
  
"Yes. You may continue to touch me." He moved his hands up to the man's shoulders, briefly playing with the hems of his vest.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
He sank down on the bed, more or less falling, like a corpse with some twitching life in him, still; it had been the last fucking thing Sebastian needed, already half beaten and battered up, to be handled that roughly. He let out another pained grunt and glared at Ruvik for a moment, not resisting or moving at all as the man climbed back up on him.    
  
Fuck, would it feel pretty damn splendid to fuck this man senseless, just to gain some sort of damn upper hand over the emotional mess, but then again, Sebastian shouldn’t forget why he allowed this. Why he wanted this mess of a man on his side, and the possibilities of it. 

How fucked up wasn’t it to see the brunt man on top of him turn red from embarrassment and evidently act shyly, almost innocently so, after having used some fucked up telekinesis bullshit, as if it was normal-... Jesus, this place was horrible.    
  
Alright, just continue. He sighed and licked his finger once more, before letting the hand find its way into the trashed trousers Ruvik was wearing, and it was probably the annoyance which the detective felt, but he rather immediately pushed the finger inside, at least past the ring of muscles, almost a little impatiently. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
He could tell that the other male was at least a little annoyed... How unneeded... He wasn't going to admit his own fault in this so he would rather blame it on Sebastian's misstep. He moved his hand a little, over the leather harness that held the cop's gun. He wasn't scared of the gun but he couldn't say that he liked the look of the tool.    
  
The next part happened way too fast for him to keep up with. Suddenly, he felt a finger push inside him, Seb didn't exactly have small fingers... The walking corpse gasped loudly and hid against the male's shoulder, his whole body shuddering and twitching.    
  
It felt unnatural, his body wanted to push it out but still... There was a strange burn from the intruder, it... felt good... He blinked, trying to relax and not reject it...    
  
"Oh..."    
  
He wasn't ready for that noise to leave his lips.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
He could allow himself to be at least a little bit amused with Ruvik's reaction to the little intruder inside of him. Sebastian paused for a moment, letting the man on top of him adjust a little bit to the sensation, maybe even relax a little, before he pushed the finger a bit deeper and started carefully moving it in and out. 

Fuck, this would take a while. Then again, he wasn't in any particular hurry and the idea of some damn release was still attractive enough, even if he was to fuck a monster. 

Alright, maybe not that kind of monster, but the burnt man’s uncanny and strong powers were enough for him to be some sort of freak. Funny that was, the fact that Ruvik looks had nothing to do with his reasoning. 

Shit, just… calm down and try not to think about how he just slammed you up against that wall. Be decent, damnit. 

“...you doing okay?” he asked, not stopping the movements of his finger; Hell, he could at least have a bit of fun with making it a little hard for Ruvik to keep his composure. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The intruder wasn't all that warm, not at all close to what he imagined a member to be, yet there was no other word but 'burning' that could be used to describe the sensation of the finger inside him. The body's natural reaction was to push it out, that much was very clear to him but he had to resist the urge.   
  
The further the finger reached, the better it felt, the more... comfortable the feeling became. In, out... deeper... he could feel his body turning warmer, how the heat was building from pleasure... it felt good.... very good.   
  
The man's breathing sped up as his fingers curled around the fabric of the man's shirt; weak, soft noises escaped the burnt lips.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Ruvik had this pretty fucking annoying habit of not answering, and it was getting on the detective’s nerves, a little bit. He got it; the scientist was evidently overwhelmed by all of this, it was just such a strange contrast to barely be affected by something that someone else was overwhelmed by.    
  
There was that morbid cuteness again, when something that was so hideous and supposed to be monstrous acted so human and desperate, insecure and needy. That sort of image when you see something big and scary act so out of character that it... Just couldn’t be scary. It still felt strange to ever have been scared of Ruvik, after seeing him like this.    
  
The victim of unfortunate situations, a small child losing everything, a small child being abused and kept away from this world. Now of course, Sebastian didn’t quite let that excuse the people he had seen Ruvik kill, and the things the killer in his arms had done. He would have put him down, locked him up, had it not been for their circumstances; the circumstances as of currently changed all the rules of the game.    
  
He took his time, letting the other enjoy the touch. It took quite some time before he brought the hand up to his mouth again, coating another finger in saliva, a lot of it, seeing the whole ordeal was rather dry, as it was, and he could at least try not to hurt Ruvik. The fingers found their way back and pushed inside, and once more, he let the man adjust a little to the sensations before he moved. At least it was a rather clean ordeal, perhaps because none of this was truly real.   
  
Slowly, carefully, in no particular hurry.    
  
After a while he pushed Ruvik back a little with his hand, trying to be able to face the other.    
“You should probably rid yourself of those pants, it’s hard to reach.” He wasn’t trying to be all that seductive and romantic, but they were close, and his breathing was definitely on the others lips, and maybe it was just part of the situation. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
It was all rather pleasant after a while. The burn victim’s voice was kept at only making subtle noises, never letting himself let his voice out of control, but he was clearly enjoying himself a great deal.    
  
Slowly, more and more of the now fingers entered him, making the feeling more intense and even more pleasant.    
  
He only became aware that the other wasn't in the most comfortable position when the detective spoke up about it. He turned to look up at him, everything about the burned man now seemed weak and much softer. He was panting, the eyes half closed and the burnt lips parted, truly not a frightening sight.   
  
"Certainly..." he pulled himself back, not being too comfortable with showing himself off. Not very surprising, he was covered in burns, all over his legs but the most obvious one was the one over his genitals. That were completely missing, burnt away by the fire that took everything else. He didn't take off his coat but pushed his pants off the bed. "How... should I be? Lay down or keep on... standing?" He hoped he wasn't sounding too insecure.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

The fact that Ruvik missed out on quite some essentials when it came to genitals was less of a surprise than it could have been. Hell, the man had severe burn damages all over his body, and having had the man close had made it somewhat evident that there was something missing. It didn’t come as a surprise, not really.    
  
Anyone would feel like a shithead for being overly negative and having strong reactions to such a thing, the poor fucker deserved shit for quite some things he had put the detective through, but for such an unfortunate accident and wounds like that, definitely not. Only a complete shithead would be that cruel as to point out such a thing; Ruvik evidently wanted this, either way, meaning he should be able to handle it.    
  
To some weird degree, perhaps it felt a little easier. As far as his own knowledge went, Sebastian Castellanos was and had always remained straight. Therefore, perhaps it was a little, illogical, weird, kind of relief, which was kind of shitty logic, but he couldn’t quite care, he wasn’t about to mention it. 

The detective was still sitting on the same spot, but adjusted his position a little, stretching one of the legs out. Right, this was his cue to undress a little too, right? Weird fucking situation; it lacked all essentials to make it romantic or erotic, but there was evidently some sort of excitement, well enough to cause an erection, and outlet of all the pent up aggression and energy. Actually-... he really should not turn Ruvik over and fuck him, right now. That would not end prettily, if not hurting him was the goal. Jesus, fuck.    
  
He rolled his eyes and with a pained grunt moved to unbutton his pants and rid himself of them, together with his underwear. It was a little painful to move, still, but nothing he couldn’t manage. Afterwards, he reached a hand out, expecting Ruvik to sit down back at him.    
  
“I am not going to turn you over and just fuck you,” he started, letting out a sigh, “see how well you manage to fit me inside, then I will.” He wasn’t that bothered saying it, just obviously a little weirded out, barely uncomfortable. It didn’t make any difference from how he felt so far in this world, except that this was evidently preferable to being chased and nearly slaughtered. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
It was almost embarrassing enough for the man to want to push Sebastian away into a wall again... all this was so very new to him, not to mention that Sebastian was evidently not attracted to him. Of course he wasn't, it would be obvious enough, just by the way he himself looked... but still, this might be his only chance, he kept on repeating that to himself, desperately forcing the doubt away.    
  
Then the other began to undress and his thoughts became very busy. To his relief, the other was semi-hard and he was.... well, probably above average? He seemed very big to someone who wasn't very familiar with such things. It took him a few seconds to react to the hand, coming over to him once more.    
  
Mhnm... he was a grown man, he should not experience this pathetic amplification of his heartbeat... calm down.   
  
"Mh. Certainly...." he could touch him, right? Burnt fingers found their way to the member as he slowly laced the digits around the cock, starting to stroke it. "That... is a lot warmer than I was expecting."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Uncomfortable, awkward, a little clumsy and slow, it was strange really, how he still felt a need for this. Lucky that, Sebastian supposed, given how Ruvik would likely react if he did go back on his words.    
  
Being touched felt good. The borderline-corpse had lost all his air of intimidation and wasn’t in any way scary, anymore. Not one damn bit. He just seemed more human than ever, and even if it wasn’t a particularly new realization at this point, it still creeped over his skin and made him feel a tad surprised, over and over. Ruvik wasn’t just a monster, and so far everything pointed to the circumstances being against the man, more than that the man had created his own Hell. Sooner than he expected, the detective found himself fully erect. He had made a few noises, just subtle grunts hinting on the fact that the touch did feel good, even if it wasn’t particularly skillful; Hell, he was desperate; anything felt good.    
  
He must have looked like a mess, letting himself relax into the touch of the other, all beaten and bruised and rugged up. His breathing turned just a tad heavier, and he drew soft breaths through parted lips.     
  
Fuck, he was… enjoying this, just for the release and a moment of letting his guard down. It was slowly becoming evident. Shit, he shouldn’t let this take too long.    
  
“H-Hey, if you don’t want yourself to close up again, you should probably move back on top of me;” he caught his breathing rather well, and looked at Ruvik, a bit of an amused grin slowly spreading over his lips. “Although, you might want to use your mouth, a little, get some saliva on there before you straddle me; it will hurt less.” It was a little amusing to not perhaps tease the other, but suggest things that were probably entirely new, just like Ruvik’s comment about the warmth of his dick.    
  


  
**Ruvik:**   
There were so many things that went through his head as he moved his hand up and down along the hot shaft... He noted the feeling of the skin, the increasing firmness beneath his hand, the hitching breath from the other's lips.It was all textbook, the reactions and the looks on the other's face, everything should be so predictable and still... It was making his own heart race. Pathetic, but understandable.   
  
The sound of the man's rough voice caught the burnt male's attention, making him raise his head. The man was grinning at him, like the cat that got the cream... Wasn't that what one would describe as a 'shiteating grin' if anything.   
  
The scientist looked down at the member in his hand before he moved back and down, lowering his head to the right height. He parted his lips, still holding the base with his hand as he let his mouth wrap around the head, starting to suck as he moved his tongue.    
  
The goal was simple: make him as hard and wet as possible. For that, he needed to use his tongue and spread saliva all over the cock. Out of curiosity, his free hand soon moved down to the male's balls, keeping them occupied. Of course, he couldn't take in all of him, instead making sure to focus on the sides and the head. His body didn't allow his jaws to open too big so he couldn't really take it much yet... enough to draw at least a tiny gasp of pleasure from the man.    
  
When he figured that the other was as coated as possible, he backed off, the taste of precum filling his mouth. There was a small strand that connected his lips and the other's cock for just a little, a shimmering spider thread.    
  
Ruvik moved back up into the male's lap, straddling him. "...What now, Detective?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**

For someone so damn obviously shaken, Ruvik was surprisingly forward. Hell, perhaps it was even a bit impressive. 

The proclaimed scientist obviously quickly found his own little solutions to things. Sebastian hadn't really given it a thought that the man had a hard time opening his mouth and moving his lips, and the tongue moving over his erection made the detective connect the dots. Ruvik was finding his own solution, despite how obviously nervous he was. Alright, damnit, that was a little impressive, even if it was still awkward and far from the best blowjob he had ever experienced.    


Funny, how much of a damn mess the detective found himself to be; he found that even something like this, given the great stress he had been under, was providing a rather good relief. He was starting to piecing the dots together of the empowerment that could be found in fucking someone like Ruvik, under these fucked up circumstances, being more than aware what he was doing. Hell, neither of them was losing anything on this, he shouldn’t overthink, he needed the ally that Ruvik could provide. 

Sebastian’s breathing had evidently become affected from the sensations, and probably a bit from the exhaustion, adrenaline kicking in just a little with the strange situation, with the dangerous man he had between his legs, pleasing him, in this nightmare of a world. Now for a moment it seemed more like a fucked up wet dream than the worst nightmare in his life, just for a moment.    
  
He hadn’t expected Ruvik to make him come, there was no real need for that, just yet, and of course, it didn’t happen; the man lacked both the skill and physical ability to swiftly get something like that done with his mouth. Instead, the burn victim climbed back on top of him, and Sebastian drew a deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come. Good, he was at least turned on enough to convince himself that he was actually willing.    
  
He couldn’t help but to look amused, even if the grin wasn’t the biggest in history, it was clear that he was enjoying the current situation and scenario somewhat, more than he would want to admit, once it was over.    
  
“I’ll tell you what now; now you get up a little and push down until I am all inside of you, taking as much time as you need. Don’t get too hurt.” Sebastian spoke just an inch from the other’s face, a little curious to how the other would react to realising that it was going to become real.   
  
Of course, Ruvik did seem rather open after the very thorough preparation, perhaps it wasn’t that much of an issue, even so, he could still warn him.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Oh yes, that was indeed a shit eating grin if any... he found it close to impossible to look into the detective's eyes for longer than a few seconds, it was a lot easier to look upon those mocking lips.    
  
The lips came closer to him, close to his face. He could feel the breath from the man before him on a few parts of his face, mostly part of his nose and forehead. The feeling was alien to him, making his mind tell him to pull away from the strange sensation. Ruvik managed to suppress the urges, even if he had pulled back just a little.    
  
The tone of the man's voice, offering him what he had dreamt about whenever his will turned weak... erotic pictures of beautiful people, flawless bodies pressed together, man and woman, this was nowhere close to that, definitely not, but his body shuddered as the detective's voice and breath stroked his desires so skillfully.   
  
The scientist pulled his body back, slowly finding a position where he could sink onto the man's member. At first, it hurt, getting the head to enter his body. Slowly, he continued to push, there was pain but he had been ready for that. The head sank inside and the rest followed far too easily, making him more or less fall onto the cock, making it hit deep inside.   
  
That had not exactly been the plan, but it felt heavenly to feel the cock penetrate him. A weak, desperate and overjoyed noise left the man's lips. The feelings that washed over him made him shiver and shudder, small noises seemingly unstoppingly leaving his lips. He wasn't aware of it but the burnt fingers clung to Sebastian's shirt.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Sex always felt good, when done correctly. There was no denying that, no going around it, no tricking himself that it wasn’t the biggest relief he had felt for ages, when he felt the burnt man bury the detective’s dick deep inside of himself. Had Sebastian not accepted the scenario, it would probably have been worse, but since he was prepared that the one he was penetrating was this monstrous figure of a man… well there was no stopping him really.    
  
He drew a sharp breath with a gruff sound when he felt himself sink deep into wet folds of warmth. Slowly but surely, his mind cleared, letting him breathe and relax; like this, Ruvik had truly lost all that which was intimidating about himself in this situation. Especially when reacting so strongly to the pleasure, it felt empowering to be the cause of it.

 

Sebastian let Ruvik adjust to the sensation, for a moment holding still. He reached forward and laced fingers around parts of the other's waist, parts that weren't completely burnt, just to assist the other’s balance. Then, experimentally, he bucked his hips upwards, not managing that well to hold back a sharp breath-turning-to-moan, even if it was rather subtle. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**

Ruvik’s breathing continued to leave him drawing desperate and weak gasps, that sounded as loud as thunder in his own ears, escaping in a very quick pace. Another man was inside of him; he was, for the first time, experiencing the feeling of sex, of a pleasure that had always been out of reach for him. Sebastian was so deep inside him, he could feel the soft throbbing of the man’s member, causing the burnt man to fight the urge to tighten up. It was hard; he had to adjust to it… it was going to be...fine… It hurt and felt good at the same time, such a strange sensation.

It felt like he couldn’t think at all, any attempts at focusing or continuing down a trail of thought only resulted in him ending up getting entangled or lost. Nothing made sense and yet everything did. Oh, Sebastian felt so good… 

“Ghnn…!” What was… had the other male moved; yes, he had. He had felt the buckling of the hips, causing them to be even more entangled with one another, their bodies so close, much closer than he ever thought he would be with anyone.

Ruvik suddenly realized that he had pressed his head against the other male’s shoulder, hiding against his neck as his hips started to slowly buckle back. In many ways, it felt like he was outside of his own body, (oh, what a joke…) watching as someone else moaned for the detective to move again. It definitely didn’t feel like him to tug on the man’s shirt as he hid from the man’s eyes under his nose. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Funny how circumstances can change one’s set of principles. It made very little of a difference that he had a murderer, a man and a monster squirming on top of his dick; rather it was strangely exciting, like something forbidden and weird that shouldn't be exciting, yet Sebastian couldn't find that he gave a fuck about how strange it was. Or at least so he kept on repeatedly telling himself.

Ruvik was evidently desperate; it was a damn interesting contrast to previous engagements with the killer. Hearing the voice that he had previously feared moan desperately and weakly, as the man proceeded to make equally desperate attempts to move and increase the level of pleasure he could get from the detective, was… bizarre and just as empowering as he had wanted it to be.

Another bonus was having the man hide against Sebastian was the fact that it brought upon two things: one, the otherwise visible brain of the burnt man was hidden from his line of sight, and two, even with this close proximity, he could have a lot of control over Ruvik’s movements. 

The detective held the other's hips in an even firmer grip, and started thrusting inside, as far as the restricted position would allow. He didn't moan, but he was definitely letting out small grunts and his breathing was slowly growing somewhat excited. He would be somewhat careful, keeping the other man steady on top of him as he fucked him as hard as the position allowed, were there no complaints. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The speed of the thrusts were increasing, making his head spin and his voice increased in sound. It truly felt very, very good.    
  
The scientist felt every movement from the one under him, it felt unreal to be connected to someone else, to be stuck and want it, to want that connection to remain and turn more intense.   
  
He pushed his head further against the other's neck, getting closer to him as he yanked on his shirt. "Ygnn...gnn... h...harder..." the voice was nothing but breathless. "M...more..."

 

**Sebastian:**   
It always seemed to come back to the feeling of power, and being in control. His mind even focused on that, leaving little to nothing else left to think about, just to bear with the strange situation itself. It was the feeling of needing relief, and a need that his mind wanted to explain only as the need to find a footing and control in this world, which led to wanting to control this man, currently on top of him. Would anyone ever had told him that he would enjoy something like this, before Sebastian had been thrown into this mad world, he would never have believed them.

The scientist begged for him to move faster, to do more.    
“Fine,” he grunted out, between the harsh breaths he took, with parted lips, and let his hands slide down a bit, finding a firm grip around the very top of the man’s thighs, lifting the other a little. Ruvik was surprisingly heavy, but that wasn’t of concern right of the moment. With the man slightly raised, there was more room to thrust into him with force, and to force the other man down on his erection to match the movements. That he did, fast and hard, until he felt himself edge closer to an orgasm, it took… surprisingly long, as if his body refused to admit to wanting sex, as if something was a little off, but even so, it all felt mind blowingly good. At last, he reached an orgasm and surprisingly actually did let out a gruff moan, his breathing not being far from hissing at that point.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Somewhat unlike Sebastian, his body and mind was very, very excited about the sex. He was somewhat unsure if his body would actually allow him to climax.    
  
To his surprise, he learned that yes, he was able to reach peak pleasure. At first, he wasn't completely certain what had happened, but it soon became obvious as the climax made his body shudder, his eyes falling shut, as a sigh of delight escaped his lips.   
  
This was soon after the detective had started to move faster, it didn't seem to register with the male that he had come or maybe Sebastian didn't care. Nonetheless, the thrusts continued and as the scientist experienced the feeling of come filling him up, his body was once again rocked by a second climax.   
  
Their breathing seemed to somewhat align as Ruvik sank together further against his now lover. Well, there wasn’t much space to sink even further, he was probably imagining things.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Strange enough he didn’t feel himself really breaking a sweat, rather it was the same sort of bodily ache, together with all the adrenaline and pleasure that came from sex, and reaching an orgasm. Fuck, he really, badly, needed that, admittedly.    
  
Part of him wanted to part from the man on top of him, that was clinging so desperately, as fast as possible. However, he assumed that would be unwise, given how much this had all affected Ruvik. Was Sebastian to actually commit to his choice of getting involved with the other, he would have to deal with the whole package. Hence, he held the other, still breathing all ragged and fast. Fuck… it had felt so damn good. He kind of wanted more, at least once more… could he? Probably, Ruvik was a pleasured mess, it shouldn’t be that bad if he just...    
  
The detective used the grip on the hips of the burnt man to push him backwards, in the process having his still hard dick fall out of the other, but that wasn’t the entire world. With all the mess of cum inside the other, it took about a second after pushing Ruvik back, to corner him from above, pushing back inside. Like this he could move better, but… he had to face the other. He could do it, definitely. He had seen way worse inside this place. Focus on the eyes of the mess of a man below him, the very human eyes.    
  
“I’m not done, hope you don’t mind,” he commented, with a grin on his lips.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The world changed, but not because he had done something. It took him two more seconds until he could figure out the obvious: he had simply been pushed down on his back. It felt downright embarrassing to feel the come slowly sip out of him, knowing that they were no longer connected.    
  
Yet, he wasn't given much time to think about it until the feeling of being filled returned, alongside Sebastian that was pushing him down with his weight.    
  
It was impossible to not look up at the detective now. The two of them looked at one another, the burnt male feeling a stab of embarrassment and regret. Suddenly, the man's eyesight was covered by smoke, Ruvik having sent it to obscure his face so that they couldn't look at one another. His heart was racing as the breath sped up almost too much.   
  
"It...it is...f...fine..."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
What the fuck-...    
  
Ruvik erupted into smoke, and the detective leaned back, gazing down at the smoke that seemed to hide the man under him. What the Hell was that supposed to be? They were still connected, Sebastian was still above the burnt man, but this was fucking ridiculous.    
  
“Hh...Ruvik, what the Hell, take that thing away, I am not going to fuck you with that in my face.”    
  
Actually, he didn’t sound as annoyed as he thought that he would, rather, he felt surprisingly patient, given the adrenaline in his body, and his body begging for him to move again. He did move for one thrust, just burying himself deep within the other, then he waited.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Oh... look at that... for a few seconds, he had forgotten just how much power he had in this world.  His desire to hide had really caused a smokescreen to cover his lover; that was somewhat ridiculous.    
  
"I... did not... intend to-!!" Just one thrust, one movement and the cloud had disappeared, leaving him visible to the detective and his smug, annoying, and so... attractive, face. Ruvik felt the world around them slowly blink out of existence, leaving only the two of them and a bed in a space of grey.    
  
It seemed like Ruvik could indeed blush, at least on one side.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
The second time the world around him disappeared, the detective was at least somewhat prepared for it, and not particularly shaken by it. It didn’t seem dangerous, at least the bed was still there, and Ruvik hadn’t seemed to change, hence, Sebastian wasn’t on that much guard, just a little bit.    
  
He didn’t particularly want to see the burnt man’s face, not really, especially not with that transparent little window into his brains, but perhaps it was a little better than taking him from behind; the look in Ruvik’s eyes always reminded of the fact that he was, indeed, human.    
  
He moved, thrusting inside of the other, actually looking at him, a little too busy in exhaustion and pleasure to quite know if he wanted to look or not. Better to focus on those eyes, and the pleasure he was making the other feel, that would be for the best.    
  
It was… strangely intimate. Eh, he didn’t care. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**

It was really bothering him to meet the man’s eyes. There was something about them that seemed to cut through him, getting to a core that the man wasn’t ready to show to anyone. Intimate… yes, that was a very good word to describe the feelings that rocked through his chest. The so called monster was more or less desperately trying to avoid the detective’s eyes, turning his head away and closing his own eyes. 

It felt good, everything felt good. It didn’t hurt that much, and what pain there was ended up being very easy to shut out. He had felt so much more painful things that this; this was just easy, a mall ache in a toe, nothing special. He could handle it. 

It was a curious thing, to be lost in pleasure, to allow oneself to just be lost. It seemed like time passed way too fast but at the same time, like it didn’t pass at all. The feelings were building faster than he thought, and they all gathered in another climax, one that caused him to curl together under the detective as his body trembled. It was strange to be so out of breath from something good, from something nice. He couldn’t find himself able to look at Seb, still, instead moving his arm over his face, hiding both the brain and his eyes. 

“...I… Do suppose… you know what you are doing…” He slowly mumbled into his arm. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**

Sebastian Castellanos was rather good at making accurate predictions, which made it no surprise that he was right about how good it would feel to be above the other like this, to dominate Ruvik. No monsters, no horror, no evil within this godforsaken nightmare; the man wasn’t a monster, and it became all the more evident as he squirmed in pleasure under him; there was no better way to ruin the whole image of horror.    
  
Another orgasm felt heavenly, fuck he had needed it, badly.    
  
He let out a growl-turning-moan, and buried himself deep inside of the man below, as he reached another climax, his breathing completely erratic now.    
  
It took him a second to realise that Ruvik had spoken, as he looked down on the deformed man that was evidently hiding the best he could. Had the man just… complimented him? Hah, that was fucking funny, he wasn’t so high and mighty anymore.   
  
“Hh-...Heh, why, do you think we’re done?” Somehow he managed to close in to speak just right next to Ruvik’s less burnt ear. With the blush on the side of the cheek that wasn’t burnt, on the other, and the shy way he acted, it was impossible not to mess with him just a little bit. Just one bit, it felt damned good to be in control again, and to genuinely not fear. He didn’t trust Ruvik, no, and he knew that he was dangerous, but the situation spoke for itself.    
  
He pulled out, grabbing the other by the waist, and pulling at him to drag him off the bed, or more correctly, to lay on his stomach with his legs on the floor, nearly standing, but not having to support himself that much. From there, it was easy to slide into him again, especially with all the cum dripping out of him.    
  
Fuck, he was over exerting himself; it was worth it, it really was worth it. Normally, twice would be more than enough, after having been kind of rough too, it was hurting, just a little. However, the detective wanted it to hurt, he wanted to exhaust himself properly, to get a proper outlet of emotion. Hence, he started moving again, and fast at that, but tried to be a little considerate enough for it to not hurt for Ruvik. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
It was strange to think that he actually enjoyed the growling from the other male's lips, that it made him feel a little proud. It meant that the man had lost himself there, just enjoying everything so much that being human came second to his nature.    
  
The next noise from the detective's lips was far closer, sending shivers through his body. He made an attempt to glance at Sebastian's face but found himself yanked around instead.   
  
At first, nothing seemed to make sense, the way he was suddenly half off the bed. However, something else became very evident as he was moved... Come. Semen was dripping out of him, smearing over the covers and disappeared down on the floor. It was... mortifying, feeling something like that but before he had time to speak at all, he was filled up once more with the other's member.    
  
He gasped loudly, burnt fingers grabbing the covers as the man behind him started to move. He... really didn't need a third time, Ruvik was already losing his grip of everything. His mind told him that he didn't want this, he didn't want the man to fuck him anymore, but his tongue wouldn't obey. He closed his eyes, trying to relax so that it wouldn't hurt. He was starting to go numb either way, Seb would come sooner of later, probably, would he stop then? The scientist hoped so... He was far too overwhelmed to object or speak.    
  
He would just have to swallow the mortifying position and accept it. Even though it made his cheeks heat with shame and embarrassment. He didn’t quite realise that he was mostly bothered because of the humiliating position.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
There wasn’t as much force behind his movements anymore, even when the position was much easier to move in. He was exhausted, truly, just a little desperate for the release of all of this.    
  
When he came again, it wasn’t as strong as before, there was no way his body could have built up enough pressure for that, in such a short amount of time, and he gasped, the moan sounding a little bit weaker than before. Even so, every moment up to that point had felt really good, and so good that the detective had found that he had stopped being bothered by who he was having sex with, not anymore repeating the same thoughts and ideas in his head over and over.   
  
When he was done, his legs felt a little shaky, but probably nothing compared to the man in front of him. Right after he came, he couldn’t help but to lean over the other; he snuck his arms around the other’s chest, just holding him, just burying his face against the other’s back; there was a strange lack of smell. It didn’t matter, he just wanted the closeness and something to hold onto in this sick world… fuck, that was weird, and it felt way too desperate for the detective.    
  
It took a little while to even gather his mind enough for a coherent trail of thoughts. Shit, he hoped that he hadn’t gone too far for Ruvik’s body to handle it. That actually, no, fuck, he shouldn’t care, the other should blame himself for wanting it so bad, Ruvik had wanted it; it made him feel a bit ashamed that he had been so harsh and lacked control that much. Damnit. 

The grip around the other’s chest was soft, and he breathed unevenly but softly against the other’s back, still connected with him, taking a moment to breathe and just close his eyes, feeling the connection to another body, feeling alive, feeling that he wasn’t alone in his hellscape.    
  
“... You’re not so bad, yourself.”    
  
It felt like it had taken forever to figure out what to say, and it felt awkward to ask whether Ruvik was fine, to ask him if it felt good, to do all those things. It was hard to figure out what to say, really. 

 

**Ruvik:**   
He could feel the man come again, it was... deep... very deep... Maybe it wasn't? It felt deep. no wonder that he was confused, when he had no idea what was going on anymore. At least it was over, the humiliation of being fucked over his own bed like a dog. He shuddered and tried to move himself up on the bed, but before he was able to move, he was caught by a pair of arms. The other's head was pushed against his back and... it felt rather good and warm, but that didn't make his humiliation any less burning in his chest.   
  
What was this for... was he... uhm... He wasn't sure what to do and he couldn't really move. He surrendered to the embrace, pretending that he wasn't blushing at all.    
  
He could still feel the member inside of him, being connected was... rather nice... being hugged was rather nice too... okay, everything about this was rather nice... Shamefully enough.   
  
"...I wasn't...wasn't... expecting... t...to have sex with... an animal..." Ruvik tried to mutter angrily but he ended up sounding rather tired, defeated. The world around them was returning, the bed and the room flickering back into existance.

 

**Sebastian:**   
An animal. Fine, perhaps a little bit; he had been rather aggressive. Fucking Hell…. Yeah, sure, fuck he wasn’t going to argue with that right of that moment; the detective would only be digging his own grave, then. Although, it was rather rude towards the first person to ever be willing to have sex with the burnt man. Besides, he wasn’t normally this fucking desperate, he deserved a fucking break from all that had happened.    
  
Sebastian let out a somewhat disapproving grunt in response, still breathing a little unevenly, still remaining as close to the other.    
  
He wasn’t quite hard anymore, which made it a little difficult to remain inside the other, well,  he didn’t quite mind, and slowly let himself slide out of the other. Still, he didn’t let go of the other, not completely. Ruvik was not as strong, for evident and obvious reasons, and maybe it was the almost embarrassment for being a little too rough on the other that made it harder to just abandon him. Sebastian felt like he really should have wanted to just fucking let go and lay down for a bit, resting, but he couldn’t.    
  
Instead, he used the grip around the other to push him a bit further up on the bed, and crashed down on the bed, next to the other, still arms around his chest, burying his face against the fabric of the other’s hood, against the nape of his neck. 

“Mn… Eh, you asked for sex, and you got sex.” He stated, still cuddling up close to the other. He wanted to be close to this other person; the detective had been thrown around so many times in this distorted world that he felt like everything could just slip between his fingers if he let go, and he’d be thrown into another more dangerous Hellhole around here.    
  
“... Sorry, if I was being too rough, it’s been a fucking Hellish day.” Ugh. Fine. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Ruvik felt the man leave him, alongside what felt like at least a bucket full of come. It was so warm and sticky... ughn... Shameful.    
  
As he laid under the man and thought about the situation he was in, he suddenly felt something pull on him and there the detective moved him again; was he really this light? How could he move him this easily? He wasn't expecting to be hugged again, the feeling so alien and strange yet pleasant and... very welcomed...   
  
He closed his eyes, allowing the parts of his body that could feel to just feel. Cuddling, relaxing, this was all pleasant enough to make him forget that he was ashamed, for a bit.   
  
"Lucky me to have you,..." he muttered to himself, continuing to pretend that he wasn't enjoying himself like this. The next words really surprised him. "....It... was pleasant. Apology accepted."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
If the detective had thought that he was relaxed prior to this, that was just because he had never been as on edge in his entire life, as he had in this damned place. He had rested before, but had still been on edge, still not been able to fully relax, even as he blacked out to sleep. This was entirely different, Sebastian was so exhausted that there was no real way to be on edge. The situation was so strange in nature, so changed, so much damn fucking preferable to everything that had happened up to this point, that it seemed like something ridiculously good. It was funny how a change of perspective could change a situation, so fucking much.    
  
Funny, he was still as exhausted as before, and the confirmation that the sex was good enough, made Sebastian relax further.    
  
He still clung onto the other, but not as firmly, as he slowly blacked out again, breathing softly against the fabric over the other’s neck. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
These feelings were very unfamiliar, very much so, to the man who never really knew the touch of another. Who didn't know the feeling of comfort that came from a pair of arms around his waist or calming breaths in his ear. He would have thought of it, but he didn't have the energy.    
  
When Seb woke up again, he would find himself in the same room, in the same bed but all tucked down. The doors were all closed, the keys resting in their locks on the inside of the room, making it very clear that the detective wasn't locked in, only so to protect him from what might be roaming outside.   
  
In the middle of the room, almost impossible to miss was a big jar filled with a strangely thick, green liquid. Ruvik wasn't anywhere to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----- Facts & Headcanons -----
> 
> Brain goo: The joke, of course, is that certain story segments in The Evil Within, especially the second game, leads go getting a larger jar of the green gel; in the first game, mostly when defeating larger monsters. Well, that was quite the defeat, right there.
> 
> Painful intercourse: An important disclaimer for the unknowing is that anal sex doesn't always hurt, it doesn't have to hurt one bit when done right, however, Ruvik's body, even in that world, wouldn't allow him such luxury.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t until he was standing in a corridor again that Sebastian could even as close to dare taking a breath. Was the fucking shit over? What the Hell had he just witnessed? 
> 
> That was a tricky question, because he knew, sort of, what he had just gone through. He wouldn’t stop, he couldn’t; at least his clothes had stopped smelling of ash and smoke, and he wasn’t burning anymore… fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, the plot begins. 
> 
> This is, sort of, where we figured out that we could actually do something with this roleplay.
> 
> Spoilers for the story of the second The Evil Within game, but then again, it wasn't any less Sebastian's backstory just because it wasn't explored as much in the first game.

**Sebastian:**

The second time Sebastian Castellanos woke up to the sight of the, at least a century old, tapestry, he didn’t curse as much as the first time; this time, it almost felt expected that he was still in this little sanctuary of a broken mind. He sat up slowly, body aching, head still hurting, but it was little to nothing compared to his previous states, ever since he set foot inside this Hellscape.    
  
It didn’t take long to figure that Ruvik had disappeared, more like, he noticed that he was alone rather immediately, and also that he had been locked inside, with the keys left for him to use. Now wasn’t that awfully kind? Actually, that if anything left an impression of that perhaps the burnt man wasn’t the worst person to have at least a tiny bit of faith in, in this place, hopefully; he still had to be wary.    
  
Once he sat up, the detective immediately noticed something in the middle of the floor. There was one of those huge jars of green gel, almost like some sort of slime that children would buy as a cheap toy, but a little bit more in liquid form. With a gruff noise he sat up, and stepped out of the bed. He dressed, and then hunched down in front of the jar, and touched it. Like every time before, it just disappeared at his touch, but then again, that nurse had been very specific about how the jars ended up with her, if he touched them. Apparently, they were useful and kept him going, and really, he did not want to know any more than that, at all. That jar was huge… did Ruvik leave it there? Hm.    
  
More surprising than jars appearing out of nowhere, which was pretty damn common occurrence in here, anyway, was the sight of the mansion. Sebastian had prepared himself to face those zombie-like, disgusting monstrosities now that Ruvik was gone, but instead, he only found that the place was empty. Well, not empty, per say, because there was blood and goo just everywhere, as if there had been a mass slaughter. That was…. Fucking freaky. Everything was just, dead. Among many theories that popped into the detective’s head, was whether Ruvik had killed all of them, or if it was something else. He really should stay on his damned guard; there could be something much worse in here.    
  
He went about finishing the disgusting puzzle business, to unlock those ridiculously huge gates in the main hall of the mansion. The place really was completely empty, and there was so much of that green goo, just splattered everywhere. Where the Hell were the bodies belonging to all this blood? Fucking Hell.    
  
Instead, he found his way down to the basement.    
  
There was a nagging worry. The further he went into Ruvik’s memories, the more wary he felt. It felt like something terrible was about to happen, as if the subconscious, or the traumas of the man’s past would lash back at him at any given moment. Yet, nothing so far, luckily.    
  
The impressively and fucking needlessly complicated door unlocked, leading him down a deep corridor, one that was definitely not the way to a basement, and at last, led him to a square shaped room. There was a desk and a chair, a bookshelf and just… so little furniture. Was there even a bed in here? No. Perhaps it wasn’t what the real basement looked like. This one had one mannequin left, and a lot of tools and notes on scientific experiences.    
  
At first, upon arriving, there was a ghost of a child, sitting down in front of the desk, mumbling and working on something. Then it disappeared.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The basement. The basement had been his world, his reality, and his life. In the basement, time was but a concept, hardly even noted onto paper. There was no clock in there, no light, hardly any indication of anything changing. Humans had gone insane over simpler things.   
  
When he was younger, Jimenez had been there a lot, him and faceless doctors, speaking words that seemed so alien to him. Those memories were like dreams of memories, ghosts of long past. Something that seemed so unreal. Oh how he despised everything about this place and yet, he came back here, again and again. Somehow, his memory of the room seemed to be very unclear, some things seemed to be missing... or maybe the desk was all there was?    
  
Reality seemed to shift, he could feel an intrusion. When he blinked, Sebastian and appeared in front of him. It seemed like he had more or less appeared out of nowhere. Hoh, guess he had been lost in a separate pocket of time or reality or, mh, he would have to figure out a proper description for that during another time.    
  
"I see you opened the door, but you truly can't stop prying, can you?" When the man turned, he would find that Ruvik looked very different, he was dressed in a simple dress shirt, bandages covering most of his skin, making almost only the eyes and nose recognizable as human features.

  
  


**Sebastian:**

He should be used to the shifts, at this point, it wasn’t that weird, anyway. He was used to way worse mindfucks at this point. Suddenly, the detective found that he was standing before a man that unmistakably was Ruvik, looking much like he did in those memories that the detective had seen of the man talking to the doctor, when he was older, or the time when he killed his parents. Dressed and looking almost like a mummy in expensive, old fashioned, clothes, he stood there, and at the very least, Sebastian rose an eyebrow at the sight, looking a little taken aback.    
  
Well, that was quite the sight. He wasn’t sure he preferred that, to the Ruvik he had seen, so far; it was a little hard to tell, really. Well, of course, it was something when the scars and horrid disfigured parts were hidden, Sebastian supposed.    
  
He shrugged and scoffed, leaning his head a little to the side, evidently looking unimpressed with the other man’s statement; “I still can’t get out of this damned place, this was the only way that led somewhere, still does.” He pointed towards the corridor to the right, seeing that the one behind him had disappeared. He sighed, not averting his eyes from Ruvik at all, at this point; he was getting far too used to seeing the other to care about him being disfigured; “did you kill all the things in the house or did something else?” It was worth asking.    
  
Sebastian shifted his weight to the other foot and looked at the other. Not so long ago, he had been having sex with this man, that was really fucking weird, but then again, Ruvik also had a promise to fulfill. Ruvik had not kept his part of the bargain, yet, not fully.    
  
“Besides, I recall something about you promising to tell me what you want the albino kid for, no?” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**

It was most likely vanity to look like this, some sort of illusion that if the burns were hidden again, he might not be seen as scary as without them. Part of the scientist suspected that Jimenez might have a hand in how he looked to the others, considering that this world was based on his own mind and having been treated as a monster and a freak for so long, well… It was little surprise he looked like he did, most of the time. This was more familiar to his head, restricting, but still familiar. 

He looked over towards the door where the other pointed at, slowly lifting his shoulders and lowering them again in a shrug. “I thought the path was rather clear.” He didn’t comment any further on that, instead moving over to the chair behind Sebastian, sitting down there. He figured that he could sit for as long as the other wanted to chat. If that truly was so important. 

“Yes I did.” The scientist seemed to not want to speak too much right now, almost being short in his sentencing. He had promised there wouldn’t be any monsters in the mansion, the first time they had a proper conversation, and yet, the Haunted and sneaked in during whatever shift had happened in their sleep; if he was to have been true to his word, they had to be gone by the time the detective awoke again. “They were in the way, I simply removed them. It was annoying me.” The burnt fingers were playing with the hem of his shirt, almost seeming more like a training exercise than a nervous gesture. He did not want to talk about the boy and Sebastian had put the words quite well for him to dance around. 

“I promised something like that? Are you sure…? Mh… I don’t seem to recall that.” 

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Oh Hell no.    
  
Surprisingly fast, Ruvik would find that the detective had moved from where he had been standing to stand right in front of him, leaning closer to his face. Sebastian’s gaze was unwavering and he glared, not particularly aggressively, but at least dead-serious, at the other.    
  
Fucking Hell, the little trust he had was starting to slip through the cracks. Or well, there was a balance there. Sebastian kind of trusted Ruvik to not try to kill him on spot, but for any sort of idea that even fucking resembles team work to get out of there, the burnt man would have to do a Hell of a lot better.    
  
He reached out, before he was really thinking it over, lifting the other’s chin, that wasn’t so burnt, for their eyes to meet, and for the fire in his eyes to glare down at Ruvik.    
  
“Let’s get something fucking clear; you agreed to working together, and that also means to fucking put an effort in it, because if you do not, I have little to no reason to do anything at all to help you, or be on your side, in any of this. You cannot possibly say that it’s not of use to have just anyone at all here that doesn’t think you’re a monster to deal with and kill.”   
  
He took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. It wasn’t that intentional, but he guessed that the close proximity was just something that happened now that they had overstepped the boundary of intimacy.    
  
“You agreed to telling me what you need that boy for, so now you better spit that part out,” he started. There was an idea, and he spoke quite before he thought; “otherwise something like that will never happen again.” What ‘that’ was, well, it was rather obvious. Was he being suggestive? Really. Well fuck. He was serious though, he wouldn’t care for shit if he had to fuck Ruvik a ton of times just to get out of here, and his hand had travelled down a little to at least point towards the crotch of the other, clearly initiating that Ruvik would have to keep his words if he wanted any sex. Could that actually work? It was rather worth it, if it did.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
That... was not what he was expecting at all. He was of course ready for the other man to be angry about him breaking his promise, but he wasn't ready for the man to get up in his face like he did, neither was he prepared to be grabbed. For a few seconds, he almost looked like an abused puppy, someone who desperately wanted to be touched and comforted, but also felt like he was about to bite him down onto his hand.    
  
Mostly, he looked like he was about to be slapped. The world shifted around them but what changed was the way Ruvik looked. Instead of a burnt man, he was a burned child, looking up at Sebastian with wide, uncertain eyes. The image lasted for only one second.   
  
A force unseen grabbed the detective and pushed him back. Not too harshly or angrily, it seemed like Ruvik was only uncomfortable with having him so close.   
  
"I... I did not give you permission to touch me..." His voice had no authority in it anymore.    
  
The next words made him feel even more lost, the way Sebastian was offering him more than just a one night stand... (That's what it was what it was called, right?) That was... tempting...   
  
"Let me remind you, I am in charge here. This is my mind, everything in here falls to my will..." He growled out, standing up as a pulse of energy made the room shake, breaking the world apart. The image if the bandaged man disappeared, the monster was back again. "I am the master of this place, you cannot demand anything of me...!" The pulses were breaking the world around them apart. He was attempting to force the man to his knees with the painful shocks and shifts of his world.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Fuck.   
  
He made Ruvik angry again. Now, of course, that was really fucking unwise, given the fact that the other was completely right about the fact that he was the Master of this goddamn Hellscape, not that it was something to brag about, in particular, more like, something to pity him for. Further, the burn victim had stated that he wasn’t even in full control of it.   
  
It was fucking hard to find a balance and behaviour around the sensitive fucking twat.   
  
Then, when he touched the burnt man, there was a sudden flash of an image of Ruvik as a child again, a child that the detective had learnt to recognize, at this point. Well, Fucking Hell, that if anything looked incredibly fucking sad. That was almost a little unfair, making it incredibly hard to not feel a little bit for the sorry fucker; he didn’t want to sympathize any further with the man, damnit. Luckily, or very unluckily, there was not any real time to contemplate that image of a scarred and hurt child, because he was pushed back, stumbling to keep his balance, in almost an instant. Ruvik really didn’t want him there.    
  
Ugh, even when Ruvik spoke, he sounded like a kicked puppy; damn, that was pathetic, almost making the detective feel a little sorry for being so aggressive, the key word being ‘almost.’    
  
Sebastian was about to speak his retort when suddenly, the world around him started shaking and something felt like it was stabbing his head. Quite literally, it felt like a stinging pain, like something had stabbed a glass shard straight into his brain, or something similar. Not only that, but the ground and world around them shook, leaving the detective with little chance but to fall together on the ground trying desperately to catch himself on his arms and knees. He caught a vague glimpse of the cause of all of that pain, who seemed completely unstirred by it. Fucking Hell, he would fucking punch Ruvik if they ever got out of this mess, punch him real fucking hard.    
  
He was writhing in pain for some time, cursing a few times under his breath, and once the pain actually started fading, Sebastian was almost teary eyed from the pain and strain on his body.    
  
Fuck.    
  
No matter the pain, however, it seemed that there was only fire and anger in the eyes that looked up at Ruvik, not yielding for a fucking second, not a chance.    
  
“Fucking brilliant,” he scoffed, for a starter, weakly trying to regain his balance, where he was sitting, not caring at all what he looked like; “I am sure people love collaborating with you, when you fucking abuse their heads; how exactly do you plan to get anything of what you want, if you keep remaining a threat to those that could be your allies?” It was a little hard to control his voice, he was evidently still in pain.    
  
“Yes, you are the goddamn Master of this fucking Hellscape. Lucky you,” he stated, more than unimpressed, rather, implying all the truth behind the idea of being the ‘master’ locked up in this Hell hole.    
  
Remain calm. He’s deadly, unstable and fucking insane. You shouldn’t have forgotten.   
  
“I am not fucking demanding anything but the reasonable fucking thing that you keep your part of the goddamn deal. How is that a fucking fault? Are you incapable of keeping your fucking word, because then, the deal is fucking off.”    
  
Fuck it, maybe he should just turn his heel and leave the shithead, he was tempted to. Find out where the corridors fucking led. Maybe it was a mistake to think that Ruvik could be of actual use. Maybe there was still a chance. Who knows. If anything, it seemed like he would have to treat the burnt man like a fucking child, rewarding good behaviour with what the man wanted, and taking away the chance for just anything good, with this shitty fucking dangerous behaviour. Great, fucking great. He would have needed Ruvik, badly, and he was aware, yet, there was no fucking way that he would just let the other abuse him like this and break all his promises; then, all of this lost its value.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
When his anger faded, the detective was on his knees before him. Yet he was clearly not broken, it was evident that this man would not bend his head to him, not even like this. It was... impressive. Ìt made his stomach feel strange, but he pushed it down.   
  
It seemed he couldn't subdue this man at all... Something hit him when he looked down upon the ragged man. Wasn't he doing the same thing that his father tended to do, ruling as an abuser. He recalled just where that had gotten his father, the feelings felt overwhelming, causing him to stumble back, sitting down in the chair.    
  
"...Fine. You might want to convince me with words and not violence in the future, unless you enjoy that headache." He scoffed, leaning back in his seat.    
  
"...All the creatures in this... Hellscape... Are created by a mix of minds, mostly ruined by a loss of identity and fear. Perhaps reduction of identity is somewhat closer to the correct term... However, that boy has little idea of identity and he has been shown to shape and adjust the world we are in now, being able to influence it. Unlike me, he has a clear and undeniable anchor to the 'real' world. If I am able to connect with him, we should be able to break the  hold this world has on all of us." He stopped and looked at the other male, slowly sighing.    
  
"If I get to the boy, we all get out. Was that clearer?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
It seemed like a favourite hobby of Ruvik’s was to fucking avoid taking responsibility, and reject his own faults. Fucking great. 

The world was still spinning, and Sebastian felt fucking horrible again. Great.    
  
While listening to the sorry fucker speaking, the detective let out a few pained groans, managing to turn over and sit down, somewhat decently, on the floor. The headache didn’t subside just yet, and everything hurt; fuck it, he just laid down on his back, on the dirty floor of this basement room. He wasn’t scared of Ruvik, hence, he didn’t exactly put up a defensive attitude towards the other.    
  
To be completely fucking fair, the things the scientist was telling him made little to no sense. It was all as much science fiction as getting caught up in this Hell to begin with, something entirely unfamiliar to Sebastian’s logic of reality. There was little else to do but to nod and comply, at all that information. To just take it in, and assume it to be true, right of the moment, giving Ruvik the benefit of doubt, while at it; there was literally no other option he had, as long as his only reference was to ask was the burnt man.    
  
“Alright, fine. If that gets us all out of here, we’ll find him. Also, it seems like a pretty good fucking idea that I know it’s important to find him. People aren’t going to do your bidding without you giving them a good reason why;” it had to be pointed out, in some ways.    
  
“I’ll be on my way in a bit. That fucking headache still hurts like a bitch.” He sighed, laying sprawled out on the floor like that, knees bent and retracted, and feet still on the floor. He put an arm in front of his face and closed his eyes for a moment, just breathing slowly through parted lips.    
  
So much work for useful information. Fucking Hell.

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
The burnt man scoffed as he looked upon the admittedly attractive man who almost seductively was stretched out before him.     
  
"You will have to forgive me that I don't particularly trust people with sensitive information, especially a man such as yourself, with a very happy triggerfinger..." He sighed and shook his head.    
  
"...Fine, while we are busy exchanging information... There are things in here that I cannot even scratch. Yet, there are many whose heads I can blow up without looking. You are on the list of things I am able to obliviate."    
  
Ruvik glanced over towards the door. "After you. Seb."

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Sure thing, keep on being threatening all you want, you still don’t want to kill me.    
  
At least, Sebastian was remotely assured that Ruvik wouldn’t kill him, and there was no real point in worrying if it truly was as easy as the man, being able to kill him with just a thought, at any given time; there was no point in being defensive towards something he couldn’t defend himself against.    
  
He let out a gruff noise of disapproval in response to Ruvik’s threat, seemingly not particularly worried at all, or threatened, for the matter. Then, he remained on the floor for another minute before he, clearly unwillingly, got up again.    
  
Yeah, fine, he’d go.    
  
“You’re coming along?” the detective questioned, an eyebrow raised. So far, Ruvik hadn’t actually gone with him anywhere, but rather just showed up half conveniently.    
Meh, it didn’t matter.    
  
He proceeded to shrug and while being at least a little wary of where he had Ruvik, he proceeded through the door to the next corridor… leading to the exact same room. For a moment, he heard the sound of a child’s voice, and saw the ghost of Ruvik ahead of him, beckoning him, calling him further in.    
  
“Hey, can you see those-..?” Ruvik wasn’t there, not when he saw the child at the very least, as if things was shaken and unsteady. In a moment he found himself standing in that same, but slightly distorted basement room, with the door ahead, instead of a corridor to the right, that was completely open.    
  
“The fuck..?”Ugh, what a fucking headache.

  
  


**Ruvik:**

It seemed that staying close to another person when the world was constantly shifting and changing was harder than he had assumed it would be. Ruvik was attempting to follow him but instead, he watched the detective disappear. It wasn’t exactly scary to him but it was a little weird and definitely unusual; it wasn’t like he had, previous to this, tried to stay together with someone in this world. Even if he had control of his mind, it was clear to the scientist that he didn’t have as much control as he would have liked.

He kept on walking on his own, at least the two of them seemed to be on the same side by now, which meant that he could once again work on trying to find the boy. It wasn’t a very interesting task, neither was it a fruitful one. He shifted to different places that he could recall, changing and moving. In doing so, following presences that seemed human still. 

He ended up spotting the woman called Kid, if that was her real name or not, he didn't especially care. Another fool, another sacrificial lamb under Mobius’ thumb… He almost felt bad for her, how she was naive enough to think that she wouldn’t simply be cast aside. The burnt man could see her running from a group of haunted, or… well, he supposed running was a little of a big word. Seeing her heels, it was little wonder the task was more complicated than it should be. 

Following another presence, he merely found a man transforming into a Haunted. Out of annoyance, he blew it’s head up and shifted towards the next energy. 

A giant sunflower field, yellow for as long as the eye could reach. Every flower identical to the next. A sea of suns and in the middle, the ship itself, the barn. For a few seconds, he remained motionless, his mind working to process the place. Who could have gotten here…? How did this place still look beautiful, despite all the time that passed and the horrible things that he experienced here? 

He entered in a daze, slowly walking into the barn where he lost everything. It was burning again, everything was burning, and a man was there. One of the villagers was there. The traumatized parts of the boy knew that he was too weak to kill a grown man, so instead, he had no choice but to call for the Haunted. Those that would kill anything in their path without thinking about it. For a long time, they chased the man, tried to hurt him but the villager was too quick, too… Illusive.

Then Laura. Oh beautiful, heroic Laura… The only person he ever really loved. He saw her fall, her body ablaze and her scream echoing around him. It was… Too painful… His feet moved over to her, kneeling before the girl that had been his world. 

“You did this to us,” He whispered at first, holding her in his arms. “...You did this to us!” The next was a shriek that broke reality, making the world shift so brutally that the villager disappeared. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**

It wasn’t until he was standing in a corridor again that Sebastian could even as close to dare taking a breath. Was the fucking shit over? What the Hell had he just witnessed?    
  
That was a tricky question, because he knew, sort of, what he had just gone through. He wouldn’t stop, he couldn’t; at least his clothes had stopped smelling of ash and smoke, and he wasn’t burning anymore… fuck.    
  
He looked around in the corridor, realising that it was empty, and for a moment, dared to breathe, feeling his pulse in his ears, and adrenaline rushing through the body. Sebastian Castellanos had just witnessed the horrific sight of two children being locked in and burnt in a barn, two, by then, very familiar children. If this was indeed Ruvik’s memories, then he understood, finally, much more of the reasons the inside of his head was this messed up. Fuck, who would not sympathize with that sort of thing? Now that it was over, it was actually even pretty damn hard to blame that shape, which he assumed wasn’t actually Ruvik, for attacking him. Admittedly, Sebastian was pretty fucking pissed, and terrified, after being chased by it, through that metal labyrinth, looking like a shitty attempt to create a disturbing piece of art. It was way easier to try very hard not to think about all these near death experiences, all that insanity he witnessed, but rather think about the recognizable dying screams of that poor girl, and the traumatized boy. So that was what happened before his father locked Ruvik away, huh. Poor bastard.    
  
Move, you still have to go forward, you can contemplate all this later.    
  
Right, he started walking through that corridor, trying to save his energy a little bit, unless he would find reason to have to run. So far, nothing. There was, however, a voice, and he froze for a moment, listening to the conversation. Oh, those were probably Ruben Victoriano’s parents. It sounded like his mother was sick, and worried, and not aware that Ruvik was, in fact, locked up in the basement. Fuck, if Sebastian had ever met that father of this household, he would have punched the teeth out of the bastard. He was the beginning of all this, of what had brought Sebastian and the others to Hell. 

When the detective entered the room with the voices, there was a faint mist vanishing slowly, hinting on the fact that there probably had been ghosts, or well, memories there, a while ago. Still, the room was empty. He was evidently still in something that resembled the mansion, but it was just a dead end corridor leading to this room. Hell… where was he supposed to go now? After a little bit of looking around, he noticed lights emitting from a small crack behind the bookshelf, and he found his way down the ladder to what was most likely the actual basement, yet, down there, there was no basement, but rather, the beginning of tunnels filled with huge and sharp objects, looking like the very image of torture machines… what?    
  
He saw the ghost of Ruvik, having an argument with that doctor Jimenez about something of test subjects, probably something related to this, so called, STEM. Then they both vanished again, and he took a deep breath. A door to his left had a recognizable symbol, painted in blood on it, and damn, yeah, maybe he needed a break into that mirror of a world. He wouldn’t mind that, so much. There was faint music emitting from there. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
When he came back to his senses, he was in his parents' room, the room where both of them had met their ends at his hand. Wasn't that cruel, he had just re-lived his sister dying before him, and now he was standing where the last remains of his family had died. How poetic... he felt like ripping something apart...    
  
Ruvik then noticed a light and the trails of music hit his ears, making him glance up at the hidden bookcase room. He could see that the door was ajar, was someone in there? He moved forward and shifted, appearing by the ladder and looked around.    
  
"Hello, Seb." He spotted the man, speaking to him before he had entered the room with the Beacon symbol. "Still prying? Have you found something yet?"

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Fair to say, he was a bit startled by the voice addressing him directly, and spun around quite fast, only to find Ruvik looking at him, talking. Well, that wasn’t so bad, luckily. Life could be a lot worse, for example, he could be chased through nightmares by the traumas manifested from the man standing in front of him. Fucking Hell. He took a deep breath, and it was obvious from that little twitch of the eyebrow and that glare that he had not had the most pleasant time, from the point where they parted, even if it had not been the longest of while.    
  
“It’s not prying, I was literally chased down some labyrinth like place that looked like a cheap movie attempt to create artistic horror and thrown out in-...” Right, maybe Ruvik wouldn’t take it too well to know that. Eh, even so, it was probably better not to lie to the man, he seemed to prefer having all the information, to discovering that the detective hadn’t told him the entire truth. Well, with any sort of cooperation, hiding facts always got one into troubles. After the pause, he took a deep breath, “I saw that accident, and your sister, ‘cept I’m pretty damn sure that there was no huge monster chasing me and calling forth undead people, back during the accident. The place fell together, and here I am. I am not choosing to pry or go forward, it’s like this damn place wants me to experience it.” That was a little bit of an accusation, but not exactly, and there wasn’t much evidence behind it, rather, it was just the emotional response to being thrown deeper and deeper into Ruvik’s past and traumas, constantly being at the risk of losing his life, in the process.    
  
Sebastian sighed and shifted his weight between his feet once, “what about you, where the Hell did you go?” At least, he was offering an escape from talking about past traumas, or so he thought. Meanwhile, he opened the marked door, leading to a storage room with torture devices; the room, however, also held a very misplaced, old fashioned, wooden drawer, and a very well decorated victorian mirror. Upon Sebastian even approaching it a little bit, the glass shattered and started emitting light. He wasn’t about to go anywhere though, he’d rather see if Ruvik had something useful to go on, some information at all on what the fuck was going on. However, it seemed safer to remain in the marked rooms, if he wanted to take a break, there weren’t any monstrosities there, and the music, despite not being of his taste, had come to be quite soothing, given his body had started connecting it to safety.

  
  


**Ruvik:**

Sebastian had a rather funny way of speaking, sometimes, he could seem so direct and to the point and other times, it seemed like he talked a lot more than needed. It was… a strange shift but not completely unwelcome. Ruvik would not admit it but he did like the man’s voice. It was rather pleasant to listen to, even if he wouldn’t call it soothing or calming. Oh wait, words actually meant things, he decided to try and focus on what the man was actually speaking about. 

In hindsight, perhaps he didn’t really want to hear it… His gaze grew darker when he listened to the description of ‘the accident,’ as the man so kindly put it. It seemed that their visions had overlapped, Ruvik understood pretty well that the villager he had seen must have been no one else but the meddling bastard in front of him. He wasn’t about to admit his mistake, but, his mind got somewhat occupied with what was said next. ‘It’s like this damned place wants me to experience it’. 

Could that, as a matter of fact, be true? That Ruvik’s mind was looking for someone to share his experiences with? Like a gruesome therapy session, a subconscious wish that someone would understand and not see him like a monster? Sebastian was the only one that knew anything about what had happened to him as a child, he never shared these things with Jimenez. He got very lost in thinking about the consequences for sharing some things with him willingly and not just through shards of memories. No, not now, not here. 

The sound of music reached his eardrums, causing him to raise his head. Sebastian had opened the door, the mirror behind him leading to… Mh? Some sort of sanctuary, it seemed like it was something akin to a pocket dimension, containing a safespace. Oho, that was similar to Leslie’s energy, the few times when he had been close enough to feel it, had this been made by his mind? 

The scientist just walked straight past the man, approaching the mirror. “Interesting…” He reached out and attempted to touch it, disappearing in the way he did when teleporting around the place, although this time, he had entered the world inside the mirror. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Ruvik had this not so funny habit of either being defensive and on edge, like the conversation was a damned survival game, or simply ignoring the conversation altogether, once the man seemed to have something occupying his thoughts. Bastard. 

He never got a response, and instead, Ruvik disappeared into that place, to that ward. Actually, this really did interest Sebastian. That nurse evidently knew things, and evidently hid things, and it was really damned annoying. Part of Sebastian really wanted to see how she would react to meeting the man that owned the very world they were standing in, perhaps, he would get a clue or two. 

Hence, he followed after.    
  
Worlds shifted and the detective awoke, almost as if from a dream, in the ward bed of the room that seemed to have been assigned for him.    
“Ugh… my head…” Damn, it really felt like he had awoken from a dream with an exploding headache; however, that was not the truth of the situation; he was just back in the ward. With an annoyed grunt he forced himself out of the bed and gazed around in his little ward prison; nothing seemed to have changed, everything seemed fine. Thus, Sebastian sighed and opened the door, finding that it was luckily not locked, this time around. He barely got out in the corridor before something strange happened; he heard a bang and movement of steps from one of the other ward doors, moving over to see who or what exactly caused that movement. Momentarily, Ruvik was forgotten, as the detective gazed into the room.    
  
There was a mist filling that room, and strange lights, and in it all, a silhouette of a person, presumably a man, from the voice that suddenly spoke.    
  
_ “Do you have any idea why this world is the way it is?”  _

It was a little startling, and really, it was impossible with the blinding light cast at the back of the man to see anything of who it was, or if he actually was more than a memory, or a shadow. What the Hell.   
  
“What, who are you?!” Sebastian scoffed out, on pure reflex, wanting a quick damn answer, but honestly, if he thought longer, he didn’t expect he’d get any. That gut feeling was, of course, correct, as the man sat down on something in there, probably a chair, and kept on talking, ignoring his inquiry.    
  
_ “Hate. Hate. Ruvik’s hate. The man’s consumed by it. He wants out, wants to get his revenge. He wants back what he feels the world took from him.”  _

That was… fucking ominous.    
  
_ “It’s not like he could actually get that… it’s not like he could actually get that…”  _   
  
Was the man even in a conscious state? He sounded delirious, to say the least.    
  
_ “This world exists as long as he does.” _

What was that supposed to mean, then. He had to ask; the detective was about to open his mouth when he felt a brush against his shoulder, right behind him. He turned his head quickly to see the attractive nurse walk by. “You heard something, just now?” The question sounded so innocent, and when Sebastian looked back into that ward cell, the man was gone. Damnit.    
“Wait, who the Hell was that?” he tried, but she just kept on walking, as per usual. Fuck. 

The man spoke of Ruvik as if he was truly evil… it was hard to see Ruvik as truly evil. Of course, it was a possibility that the man was unstable and spiteful enough to want vengeance, but against what? All those that truly wronged him seemed to have died, already. So what did the man actually want. It felt more realistic to think that Ruvik just wanted out of this Hellscape, as well. 

Speaking of which, where the Hell did the burnt man go?

  
  


**Ruvik:**

This was his sanctuary? The sanctuary of a man, no, barely more than a boy, who wanted to escape the world of pain and suffering… This was but a hospital ward, with a check in counter that was unmanned, further ahead, he could see an electric chair and a announcement board. He walked into the waiting room, stopping as he realized that a portrait was hung before him. There seemed to be some of his drawings and paintings that he recognized there as well. When he looked back from whence he came, he saw a newspaper stand. It seemed familiar and upon further inspection, he found that the headline spoke of the Victoriano mansion, by the time he had set it on fire, in an attempt to burn all his demons. He didn’t want to admit that some part of him had hoped that it could be a new start, a last goodbye to the world that had pained and chained him all his life. It had well been proven to him by now that it wasn’t as easy, that someone like him had little hope of just… Living. Yet when he first had held this piece of paper, he had felt good to know the mansion’s disappearance had been noted, and now, It felt just a tad… Pathetic. 

The creaking, loud groan from a door being opened caught his attention, but the thing that made him drop the newspaper was the sound of another voice, a voice that wasn’t Sebastian’s. It had been so long and yet, the voice alone made him stop dead. 

_ “Do you have any idea why this world is the way it is?”  _

How dared he talk about those things… How could he even be here… or what remained of him.. He was dead. He should forever be dead… Just like when Sebastian had been threatening him to his face, he felt like a child again, weak, lacking control, and above all, lost. His muscles tensed up, he couldn’t move, but instead listened to the voice of the man whose life he had taken, the first life he had taken. He listened to him telling Sebastian about ‘Ruvik,’ what he was like, as if that man knew or had any right to speak of it. 

Even after the man had stopped, he remained still, standing by the newspaper stand and stared out at the world. Movement caught his eyes and he looked up at the woman that passed, something was wrong about her, she didn't seem real. Part of him wanted to focus on her, figuring out if she could actually be a projection created by Leslie Withers and the possibilities of that. Yet, he was far too busy focusing on not trying to crush the world around him in a fit of anger. 

He soon heard the sound of footsteps following the woman, glancing to the side to see Sebastian enter. No matter what he had looked like before this point, the shadows from his hood seemed darker and his aura turned threatening again. “...Pleasant place. Was that man always around.” That wasn’t as much a question as it sounded like a threat. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Well, this place looked a whole lot fucking different from before; it wasn’t even subtle. The tapestry on the world had turned into something that was most definitely taken out from that mansion. He walked out of the ward itself, and into the reception room, following the nurse as she moved back to her usual place behind the desk, seemingly minding her own business and sorting a few papers. Right before she passed into the reception, she said ‘you have brought unwelcome company’ as a very offhand comment, and before he could answer, she was already on her way to her usual business. Did she mean Ruvik wasn’t welcome?   
  
Speaking of which, there, of course, he saw Ruvik who looked… upset to say the fucking least, damn. The first only logical response in his mind was that the man might have heard what that shadow said, in that ward cell. Apparently, it didn’t seem far from the truth, because the burnt man looked like he was about to strangle someone, while he commented on that man. Well, fuck, he didn’t want any trouble.    
  
Could he calm Ruvik a little? That would be really fucking desirable for the both of them, and probably safer for everyone involved. He could try. Remember what you were doing, remember that you’ve even crossed the line of intimacy just to have this man on your side, be a little fucking clever and say something before things turn out wrong. Fucking Hell, being sensible like this was usually Joseph’s thing, not Sebastian… ugh.    
  
He walked up to Ruvik, managing to keep an approach that didn’t seem very scared or on defense, looking at the man again. “No idea who that fucker was, I couldn’t even see him properly, and he hasn’t been here when I have, no,” he started, sounding somewhat calm, actually. Keep this cool, the guy just accused Ruvik of every evil in the world, sounding a surprising lot like the words of that doctor. It was, actually, kind of important to make a point of that Ruvik had more credibility than that man, at least for now.    
  
“You okay? He sounded fucking nuts, could he be one of the doctors or patients?” He sounded like he didn’t know a thing, and hoped for Ruvik to give some sort of explanation to who the hell the man was, and as if the words that man said hadn’t even been particularly interesting. There was some truth in that, all people raved on about how dangerous Ruvik was, yet, the man himself didn’t match up with their words, and it didn’t seem to be an act.    
  
Behind them, the nurse scribbled away on something, completely ignoring their presence. He took a moment to glance behind Ruvik, looking at the sunflowers that were apparently a huge painting on the wall behind them, opposite of the reception desk. To their left, there was also an addition that was a family photo, obviously of the Victoriano family, well, that was fucking weird, but not the weirdest he had seen.    
  
The sunflowers reminded him of that memory of the fire accident and the barn. ‘ _ He wants back what he feels the world took from him.’  _ What was that supposed to be; was it supposed to be his sister Laura, or was it supposed to be his body before he was so horribly disfigured, was it something else? Whatever it was, wanting back what the world had stolen from Ruvik wasn’t a strange thing, and probably kind of justified. Most of all, it was relatable. He didn’t want to think about it, but now that things had calmed, when he looked at those burning bright sunflowers, it only made him think of a different fire, of different screams of panic that plagued his nightmares. For a few moment, it was probably visible that the man lost himself in something painful. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**

It took him at least two seconds to realize that the other man had come closer, making him lift his head a little to meet the man’s eyes. Ruvik had since long had a little hard with the idea of meeting someone’s eyes; meeting the eyes of his father had never been easy, and yet glaring down fools like Jimenez had been beyond easy. Sebastian was in that category where he wanted it to be easy to just look at him and yet… It was not. He decided to look just below the man’s eye instead, making it seem like he could face him. 

He was not ready for the things that the detective said next. He didn’t know that man, he didn’t know who he was and didn’t really seem to believe in what he was saying. Then he asked… if he was okay? That was even harder for the man to comprehend, for a moment, he looked utterly and truly lost, as if he hadn’t heard those words in forever. The truth was probably closer to him never having heard it. “Seeing as he was in here, he could very likely be some sort of gathering of people’s emotions towards me, taking the shape of all of them at once. It is simply a theory but I found it very hard to believe that… Man to be who I think he sounded like.” 

Ruvik lift his head, looking up at the male’s eyes and noticed that the taller had become busy with something else. He turned to look behind himself, searching for the reason for the other’s lack of response. The drawing of the sunflowers? He realized that the other male had more or less seen all of the things he had drawn. Why was it that the art on the wall was something he had scribbled when he was rather young, before the fire.    


The scientist lift his hand, placing it on Sebastian’s stomach and gave him a push. Mostly to get his attention but partly to observe his reaction. He didn’t think he could push the man hard enough to make him stumble but it was certainly worth a try. “Seb. I am speaking to you, it’s rude to space out when someone is talking to you.” 

  
  


**Sebastian:**

The detective hadn’t given his own past much of a thought, since he got thrown into the world of Ruvik’s head. There was no real time to sit and contemplate, or to be tragic about his past, besides, he had done remotely well, for being himself, by focusing on work, right before all this, despite the loss of his family. Well, of fucking course he would get reminded of all that from what the brunt man had experienced, and yeah, sure, somewhere, someone could probably point out that they had a thing or two in common. They also seemed to handle the grief the same way; they both busied themselves and tried not to think of it, tried to keep moving. Well, Ruvik had clearly ended up a lot worse than himself, and been through a lot worse things. The realisation however, it was, weird. Strange. He supposed, it just made Ruvik seem a damned lot more human. Sebastian was quite so certain that he’d give or do pretty much anything to have back what the world had taken from him; what made Ruvik so different, then.    
  
The detective tried to not think of it, of the pain of burning to death, of his daughter, of all the things he usually had nightmares about. He didn’t exactly have time to either, because the man in front of him decided to push him, although not very hard.    
  
Quickly, his gaze averted away from the sunflower painting and looked back at Ruvik, seemingly confused for a second. It took a moment or two for him to register somewhat what the burnt man had been saying, when he zoned out a little. At the comment of the fact that he wasn’t paying attention, he was very tempted to shoot back a ‘look who’s talking’ but didn’t, instead he sighed and shrugged. “So like, the things they want to think that you want and will do, or…? Who did he sound like?”    


 

  
  
**Ruvik:**

If he had had eyebrows, he would have lifted one at that question. “Before I answer that, I must inform you that there are many things about this world that I do not know. As in, I can draw conclusions and create theories based on psychological  knowledge and the most likely conclusion as to why something would be the way it is. I only know things that I know. What I cannot deduce everything by just looking at it. However, this entire little sanctuary of yours seems to have been created by Leslie Withers. Those words sounded like something that Marcello Jimenez would be likely to tell him. That child has no idea about the power he has in here, it is fully possible that part of his subconsciousness has created a person that embodies these thoughts and words that have been told to him.” 

He turned his head towards the corridor, only to move around the man and walking into it. He saw the cells on the sides of the small walking path, proceeding along them until he realized that those scribbles on the walls were… Not scribbles. He stopped dead in his tracks and then reached out to touch the crosses on the door. Upon glancing through the cracks, he could see nothing but darkness and the handle would not bulge. “This wouldn’t happen to be the cell where that… man was, would it?” He hoped that his voice was calmer than he felt. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Well, he was back again, and listening to what the man ahead of him was telling him. It was a damned good excuse to not think about anything undesired, to just keep focusing on Ruvik and all of the mysteries surrounding him. So, things the doctor was telling the mental patient, and this ward was likely created by the albino kid’s mind? For a moment, he glanced over at the attractive nurse, evidently and visibly puzzled to who she then could be. She never answered **when** he asked, that was for sure.    
  
Ruvik walked off, and Sebastian decided to follow. Part of him felt like it would be of use to use that horrid electric chair, the one that seemed to be injecting strange things into his body, possibly something green and gel like… how about not thinking about it. Whatever it was, it restored his health, in an almost supernatural way. Then again, the scientist just gave him a whole lot to think about; if this was indeed something this Leslie Withers had come up with, then it started making a little more sense. It also at least felt like it made somewhat sense that the place had changed like this after Ruvik ended up in there, merging with things from his past.    
  
“Yeah, that’s the cell,” he pointed out, in response to Ruvik’s inquiry. Well, the scribblings and symbols obviously intrigued the other in some way, whether or not it was positive or negative. “Do you know these symbols?”    
  
Having Ruvik around was so far proving useful the way he wanted it, because he knew a lot of things that Sebastian had no input to gather information about, and could make a lot of educated guesses. So far, this was damned well not a mistake; he was going to get out of here, alive, somehow. 

 

 

**Ruvik:**

“Mh… How… Ironic.” He stated, lifting his hand towards the door. He was about to force it open, blowing it away from the hinges but then halted himself. Doing such a thing could possibly damage his ticket out of there, something he was not about to put to a test. Breaking this door open could lead to further damage of the boy’s mind, and despite it being quite the mess already, further strain could cause bad end results. He lowered his arm to his side.    


He supposed that he could actually tell him… Mn… It kind of annoyed him to have to speak about these things. Not because of Sebastian, of course, but because of his own bloody imbecile of a father. “I am sure you have realized by now that I have no real love for my father, or his foolish ways of going about things. One of the matters which we never agreed upon was religion, and his obsessive need and want to give money to the Cedar Hill Church. They were not as much a church, as they were a cult, tricking people with religious indoctrination, threats and brute violence.” Ruvik turned from the door and continued down in the hallway, looking at the locked doors further away before returning to the only open one.  

“I am not certain when my father became brainwashed to their ways, or if he simply feared more of his property being burnt down, but he kept on donating large sums of money to them. This, despite all the accusations towards them, and even when the floor caved in to reveal hidden laboratories and mummified sacrificial victims he kept on giving them money.” The scientist entered the last cell, looking around in it before simply claiming his spot upon the bed, the mere weight of the thin man making the whole construction groan with pain. Ruvik promptly ignored this. 

“If you need more clarification: that is the symbol of the cult. I have never been to the actual place, only seen pictures and read descriptions of it. They newspapers talked about a giant dog that had been fed the remains of sacrificial victims, one that was extremely aggressive. Sounds like a scary story to me these days but as a child, it was… Uncomfortable to say the lea- Am I talking too much again?” He only now noticed that the detective didn’t seem too interested in the current subject of hellish guardhounds. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
See, right there was a whole damn lot of information that no one else in this Hellhole would seemingly be willing to provide the detective.    
  
Sebastian supposed he should count that as one point for Ruvik, once more. There was no real reason that the man would lie, no matter how fucking strange it sounded with corrupt religious temples and sacrificial victims, and experiments; eh, he supposed that the circumstances made it seem more fitting than not, in this place.    
  
By the end of Ruvik’s little story, Sebastian had sat down next to the other, on the bed, listening. Despite the creaking noises of the bed, he was quite sure it wouldn’t break, he had, after all, woken up on it a bunch of times, at this point.    
  
“I don’t think it’s too much, all information is valuable information,” he pointed out, in response to the burn victim’s words. He didn’t mind the bits and pieces of getting to knowing Ruvik, in between the information, especially if this man was supposed to be part of his plan to get out of here. It was better to know Ruvik than not to; he was much easier to predict, the more you knew of him, and showing trust was a good plan, the more Ruvik confided in him and the less secrets they had, the better for everyone; it was simple logic.    
  
“So… there’s a psycho cult that sacrificed people, and your father donated large sums to them, and there’s likely a connection between that church, and Beacon, and your machine?” He paused there for a moment, before he continued. 

“At the very least I’ll know what is going on if I run into any Hellhound monstrosity.” Sebastian shrugged and leaned back a little. 

  
There was a lot of information to consider, about all of this. Of course, it made a whole lot more sense to have more people being behind something like this, and for something like this to grow for so long, rather than there just being one single maniac as the cause of it; Ruvik wasn’t even a maniac. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**

The feeling of someone sitting down next to him was very, very strange to the man. It should be something simple, something that really shouldn’t make him think about a thousand different things and still, it did. 

The weight shift, the slight pull of gravity that could pull him down and have their legs bump into each other, the way everything about Seb was now in reach for him, oh how easy he could touch him. How easily the detective could touch him… The memory of the ragged man above him, inside of him, their eyes meeting briefly before Ruvik had broken eye contact, sweat, come, probably some saliva too.  He had enjoyed it a lot, it had been extremely overwhelming and pleasant, even if things had been a little too much in the end, only the memory of it being good remained. 

If he wanted to, he could touch the man right now, feel what little he could through the damaged nerves and the burnt flesh. Yet, there was simply no way that the man could enjoy his touch, definitely not the same way Ruvik was enjoying his, surely, it was just something the man had decided to put up with for now. Did he have any idea that the scientist was thinking of them touching? 

Sebastian was so close, he could feel the scent coming from the man, normally, the scents would likely have bothered him but now, after having been surrounded by them in such an intimate moment, they were… nice enough. 

They were sitting on a bed. Not completely unlike the way they had been sitting before. 

Ah.

Did he want to have sex with Sebastian again? On this bed? That wasn’t very practical, this excuse of a bed seemed like it could fall apart if they simply moved a little too fast. Sexual activities seemed downright foolish. Yet still, foolish is what he wanted to be. Foolish wishes seemed to be all he had right now. 

Ruvik sighed audibly, leaning back just a little in the bed, making it creak. He hadn’t been looking at the detective, and still wasn’t looking, instead focusing on a stain up on the wall. However, he had once more returned to the shape that resembled all bandaged up but also all the more human looking. It took him a little longer to realize that the detective had spoken to him. 

“...Connection, yes, that is one way to put it. If you are asking for information, I can only guess as I previously didn’t care too much who I worked for as long as I was left alone and funded. The organization I worked for is called Mobius, from what I can tell, they seem to have connections to a lot of things.” 

He stopped as he moved himself back to rest against the wall, getting more comfortable before continuing. “It seems somewhat ridiculous, especially in hindsight, but they seem to control an awful lot of businesses and places. They may have originated from Cedar Hill Church, but even back then, they conducted lots of experiments on test subjects. I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that they might actually control Beacon Mental Hospital. Donations from fools like my father cannot keep them floating alone, they must have influences from other businesses. Seeing as there was no trouble to get the materials and tools I needed, they most likely own research laboratories as well as access to manufacturing facilities.” 

Here he stopped once more to gather some saliva in his mouth, clearly not used to how dried up all this talking make his tongue feel. “ I can’t know how far their influence reach but they managed to find me in the middle of nowhere, they have a lot of people working under them, all in all, they do almost seem like some sort of secret organization running the world from behind the scenes. It is an absolutely ridiculous way to think, but that is the way they are treating themselves.”  

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
“Now doesn’t that sound like a fucking headache…”    
  
Sebastian sighed, not having moved at all from the spot where he sat down, but now, he leaned forward a little and rested his elbows on his legs. Ruvik was right, it sounded absolutely insane, and ridiculous. Secret world organisations didn’t grow on trees, but as the scientist said, it made a lot more sense that they would have the attitude and goal of being an organisation of the sort, than that being the actual truth.   
  
So, there was an organisation behind this whole project, and Ruvik was just a cog in a bigger construction, assumed that he was speaking the truth, which certainly seemed to be the case for all he had seen. Something further clearly worth some damn attention was Ruvik’s way of repeating that he didn’t ask for anyone to come inside his head, and clearly didn’t want them there, hence, he wasn’t very likely to be responsible for putting Sebastian and his co-workers in that situation. 

He let out a sigh that sounded almost like some gruff but weak growl, evidently pretty damn annoyed, but not aggressive or upset with Ruvik. It was just the situation itself.    
  
“Any clue why the Hell they brought us all in here? I am going to go ahead and assume that they’re involved,” he commented, turning to look at Ruvik, who had changed position again, and changed appearance. He looked like a very unfortunate soul that had been through Hell and back, and still tried to keep up appearance, despite all that. It was rather easy to look at him like this, because he seemed so human, and like his scars were nothing compared to all that Sebastian had witnessed the past-... who even knew how long he had been in here. 

“I mean me, my team, and the cops, I can’t even fucking recall being brought in here, just the drive to Beacon, with my team…” Now that he thought about it, Sebastian truly could not recall an instance where he would have been put to sleep and brought into this Hell. That was fucking terrifying.    
  
He sighed again, “maybe we should get going, we still have to find the others.” He could ask more later, he was fairly confident that Ruvik wouldn’t run off too far. Getting out of here was a higher priority than finding out about this Mobius, however, there was something unsettling about that fact, something telling the detective that he should figure out more. If they had put him here, they were probably waiting on the outside, somehow. The detective needed to know why they were thrown in here, to what purpose, and at least have an idea of what was waiting for them all on the outside… probably. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**

...Why was a growl making his stomach move? The scientist felt very strange and very uncomfortable with the way that the little noise seemed to make his heart flutter. He swallowed it down as fast as he could, focusing on the same spot on the wall, trying not to think about the man just inside his reach. 

This time, he was expecting the man to speak and such, he was a lot more ready to respond to whatever the male was about to say. “You are asking a lot of me, Sebastian.” He calmly pointed out. “I have been working with this machine for a long time and I am very much the master of this world but I was never at good terms with Mobius. I never believed them to be awful but clearly… I was mistaken…” He trailed off, the world around them started to shift, the room became smaller, whiter, the bed below them changed. However, the man realized what was happening and the original room returned in a snap. 

“I’m afraid there might not be a clear reason. You weren’t chosen as a test subject or alike, you simply were unlucky. If you were, however, asking for how you arrived in here, I could tell you of the machine. Basically, you are connected to it by a sort of tool. It is inserted into your brainstem, a point here.” He reached forward, too lost in his explanation to be nervous about touching the man. He laid a finger against the point where the cable was connected. “It is stuck in your spinal cord, further, you are placed in a safe tube where you can’t writtle about and harm yourself from moving in this world. The tube is filled with gel, to keep bacteria away, but also keeping you hydrated to some extent. The only way you can have gotten in here is someone putting you here. My guess is that your team was investigating Beacon and they wanted you out of the way.” 

That was most likely not the reason completely… They most likely realized that Leslie Withers had been what he needed to be able to get out, leading to them inserting the Juli Kidman woman to stop it. Sebastian and Joseph could have been placed along with Kidman inside STEM with the purpose of distracting him from seeing the woman. Sebastian didn’t need to know that. 

It was hard to remove his hand from the man. Just the touch of a finger and he wanted more. His fingers slowly moved up over his neck, towards his hair. He slowly let them run upwards through the dirty locks before realizing what he was doing. “..I… Mh.” He pulled himself back towards the wall. 

“...We?” He repeated the word, clearly surprised that the man had just spoken of them as a… team? Oh well, if that was what the man said, then he supposed they should get going. “...Certainly. How do you normally travel out of this place? Through the mirror, I assume. The one by the end of this corridor?” The man finished.  

  
  


**Sebastian:**

The detective couldn’t help but to shudder at the touch, but definitely for different reason than anything the male beside him would hope for. The shudder plainly came from the awareness and idea that he was, in fact, connected to a machine like that. It was scary, and definitely creepy in a sense that would creep down his skin, just imagining it. That, of course, made Ruvik’s touch even more welcome, because it was a good distraction, reminding him that he couldn’t feel any of that damn scary concept. 

Alright,... great to know that Sebastian was just really fucking unlucky, to having ended up here. Fucking great. Maybe it was human to want a purpose, a reason or logic behind it, but a man of his profession knew all too well that there were rarely good explanations, or explanations at all, some things just happened, some things were simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fuck.    
  
Ruvik was kind of cute when he was shy. He hadn’t been around someone like that for years at end, it seemed like a very teenager sort of thing. Sebastian couldn’t even imagine himself hesitating like that, being careful like that, seemingly losing himself a little, into something like that, he wasn’t a fucking teenager anymore. The man being shy and flustered was evident, and well, maybe that wasn’t so fucking strange considered what they had been up to prior to showing up in this place.    
  
“Yeah, one of the mirrors, for all I know, at least. They bring me here, and then back to where I was, previous to showing up here. We should get out of here, yes.”    
  
His lips quirked with amusement and he leaned in letting his lips grace over the ones of the burnt man in front of him. He was mostly messing with him, but only because it made him feel a damned lot better, it was such a contrast to all the stress, despair and adrenaline. It was a short-lived kiss, before he got up and about with his regular business, waiting a bit for the other to follow before he approached the mirror, staring into the depths of it, until the world around him shattered and he was back in that storage room filled with horrendous tools. Strangely, when he looked around, Ruvik was nowhere to be seen. 

 

  
**Ruvik:**

“Then I assumed corre-” He stopped very dead in his tracks as he found that Sebastian had turned around and was now more or less up in his face. Ruvik opened his mouth, about to pull back further against the wall out of discomfort but the detective was faster. Their lips connected in a brief, yet warm, kiss. 

The kiss made his head and heart spin. It was so simple, it even seemed as if it was a game to the detective, He was so good at it, so good at doing small things that no one else had done, and yet, those things meant so much to someone like the burn victim. It made Ruvik want to kill him, to hurt him, and yet, he also wanted to sink into that little warmth and stay there. 

Sebastian was already gone, having left and was now standing by the mirror. He watched him as he disappeared, observing the way the world shifted around him and returned to its original state. He turned to the nurse, observing her for a few seconds. There was no need to speak to something that wasn’t real, something that couldn’t really respond. Ruvik turned his heel and followed Seb. 

When he opened his eyes, he saw a house, like the ones he had seen in photos and magazines. The house was big, wellkept, the American dream house, with big windows and a nice little garden around it. He was standing on a little road, surrounded by threes. It had no smell, this was most likely a memory of someone in this world. He had entered them before by accident. He had no interest in this one either, but as he was about to turn away and leave, the house abruptly caught fire and he heard the voice of a child screaming. 

Dad. 

He was overwhelmed by the emotions of the person who owned the memory. It wasn’t too surprising to him, but the feeling of despair and panic, the will of wanting to save a loved one from the fire caught him off guard. It was so familiar to what he himself had felt. He couldn’t resist, he was curious…

If he just allowed it, his body would be pulled along with the memory, and it would do the same things as the original had done, when the action had become a memory in the first place. His body ran up to the doors, but couldn’t get inside, instead then breaking a window to enter the house. It was hot, but the owner of the memory didn’t really care, so he was rather fine. He instead looked around in the house as they passed through it, the man on the photos were… familiar. The double set of wedding photos, one serious and one in an American, stereotypical spy look with large guns, seemed somewhat tacky, but passed by far too quick for having too much time observing them.

Up the stairs and towards a child’s room he went. The screaming for her father didn’t stop but as they broke through the door that said ‘Lily’, the child was still alive. The instant he saw her, he knew where he was. It was right there, in the look and shape of the girl’s eyes. This was Sebastian Castellanos’ memory. This couldn’t actually be a memory though, seeing as Sebastian just experienced himself being burnt to crisps. Ruvik was a little amused by how he thought it felt, it wasn’t exactly right and thankfully, not as painful. 

He separated himself from the capture of the body, turning to look around before the memory of the dream ended. He only managed to see Lily’s room before it was all gone, and he was standing in the void that was created when memories ended. He turned to leave, but then he heard a voice, Sebastian’s voice. 

_ She is gone, Myra. Our little girl… is gone.  _

That man… He had a daughter. He had a wife. The girl seemed dead but the woman,... she was still alive? It seemed like it. His chest felt heavy with realization. What he had with Seb, that one time when he had showed him such bliss, all the subtle things the man did, and then, that small kiss that sent his heart spinning. It was all a play to him, wasn’t it? The man had a wife, he wasn’t even faithful… 

Oh how foolish Ruvik had been. Trying to make something between them when there obviously was nothing, imagining that Sebastian was doing things for him while he was most likely only furthering his own agenda. Why was he so angry about it…? Why did he feel insulted and used? It should be obvious, they hadn’t even gone through all that much time together, it was just, the only ever time Ruvik had gone through anything similar at all.

The memory broke and he was back to his own, personal Hell. Seb was no longer there, he was in a different place than before it seemed. It didn’t matter, he would probably run into him sooner or later… Damn it… If he was being used, he might as well use him back. Make Seb his and not let the man toy with him like this.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \----- Facts & Headcanons -----
> 
> Different realities: It is canon for The Evil Within universe that people see different things, and may or may not experience the same reality. (DLC SPOILER) A token example is when Sebastian and Joseph saves Kidman from a water tank, but in her experience, she was in entirely different strange facilities, banging at them and trying to get through to them through a glass wall.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What the fuck do you mean I’m yours?”
> 
>  
> 
> \--
> 
> “He can claim whatever he wants to you, Detective, but he can’t get out, and will not get out, because Ruben Victoriano is dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be the end of the roleplay we wrote, realising that Ruvik and Seb won't meet all that much after the point in the game, where this chapter ends. However, an interesting epilogue will be added as the last chapter, where we simply summarized all that happened afterwards, then, this work will turn into a series of the first game, a short thing of their in between time, and the second game. 
> 
> There is a middle part of this chapter where we acted out the spoken dialogue as an acting practice and challenge, and hence, it's simply summarized.

**Sebastian:**   
Just when he thought things couldn’t get any fucking worse, maybe he should just have fucking waited for Ruvik. However, the male just disappeared, and after a ten minutes or so, Sebastian had decided to proceed.    
  
Now, someone had to be responsible for the damned death carousel and disturbing tivoli music. Were the so called ‘haunted’ wearing masks now with scary clown faces, they sure as Hell were. Someone in this world of shattered minds clearly had a phobia, and that someone was, luckily, not the detective. However, the further he proceeded, the more insane machines and torture devices he had to avoid, and it was getting tedious and most of all fucking terrifying and deadly. Then, suddenly, he walked into some sort of terrifying crucified monster, and more of the sort, having to blast them to bits to even get past. They had swung chains and sharp hooks at him, and for being strung up in such a probably uncomfortable position, they were surprisingly swift and agile. Not more of this fucking Hell… 

When he finally was out of there, it seemed that his luck was running out, anyway. He had been so certain that he had killed that nightmare creature resembling Ruvik’s sister, moving about with her extra set of arms, ending with long and deadly claws. Yet, there she was, luckily, stuck in what looked like a cage…. He should not have thought that he was lucky.    
  
Killing her a second time was possibly the worst thing he had to do in this Hellhole of a world, and even then, he didn’t quite manage to. He had to run off, as she was still chasing him, vaguely noticing the hospital-like environment, not quite having the time to consider more of it. All he knew was that he saw the elevator, and that there was no other way out, and right when he managed to pass through, she got a hold of him, choking him on spot. Luckily, he managed to get away, in the process depriving her of two of her arms. There. Finally. Hopefully it had ended. He sank back against the opposite wall of his newfound cage, and breathed heavily, unevenly, trying to calm his racing heart. Fuck…   
  
  


**Ruvik:**   
It took very long to find Sebastian once more. He wasn’t only looking for him, the boy was still the first priority but in the end, he found the man. He had somehow gotten into an elevator, in which the severed arms of the monster that wore his sister’s face, had also somehow ended up. He looked roughed up and even more rugged than before, there were new cuts and bruises all over him and the scent of burnt flesh and fabric came from him. 

Ruvik walked towards him, approaching with dark and ominous aura about him. “I know who you are. Seb.” The bars in front of the elevator buckled and bent, being pulled away by an unseen force. “I know what you crave, what you fear.” There was nothing between them now. He started to walk, inside the elevator. “Will you be able to live with yourself, knowing what I am going to make you do? Poor little Joseph couldn’t.” The man stopped before the other, barely out of reach for the detective. “...It’s too bad they dragged you into this.” He added, sounding almost disappointed. “However… You are mine now. To do with, as I please.” 

He thought about leaving but instead of simply just doing so, he leaned in instead, taking that last step and let their lips connect. He was a lot greedier now, even if he wasn’t very good at kissing, he still claimed those lips for his own for a few seconds. The unseen force kept the man still as the scientist sank his teeth into the man’s neck, biting down hard enough to leave a clear teeth mark. Only after this did he step back, allowing the man to move from the bars. 

Ruvik exited the elevator and stopped outside. He was clearly waiting for him. “Come then, Seb. I know you want to get out still, quit dawdle in the elevator, would you?” 

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
The relief of seeing Ruvik appear out of nowhere disappeared faster than it should have. Fuking Hell, would this insanity never stop.    
  
Not a single word the other man said made any sense, at all, and he looked like an upset animal, more than a person, for a while, being genuinely threatening.    
  
Sebastian didn’t mean to reach for his gun, it was just a core reaction to the threat, but even then, found that he was held still, and couldn’t move. Not again. Fuck. To his, almost, surprise, Ruvik didn’t decide to harm him, and despite the detective thinking for a moment that it was someone else, a memory, something weird that resided in here, it seemed to actually be the scientist.    
  
The kiss was forceful and clumsy, but better than the last time. The bite stung, but not as much as getting cuts by unnaturally long claws of monsters. Sebastian could deal with the bite mark, that wasn’t the biggest of issues. However, what the fuck happened to Ruvik, where had he been, and why was he so damned upset all of a sudden? Or, maybe not upset, it was hard to tell, but something definitely changed fast. Where the Hell had he been.    
  
Another thing that struck Sebastian was that it hadn’t just been fear and discomfort to be locked up like that, and forcefully pulled into a kiss, but rather… maybe that was a little hot, surprisingly so. His type had always been those who knew what they wanted and weren’t afraid to fight for it, and attempt it, those that were a lot more forward, hence, in his own strange way, Ruvik wasn’t entirely unattractive when he was like that. However, it didn’t mean that he could do whatever shit he wanted, just like that.    
  
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” the detective breathed out, still standing in place, eyes slightly widened, but more out of surprise than fright.    
  
“What the fuck is your issue? What the Hell do you mean ‘Joseph couldn’t’?” There were a bit too many questions to phrase anything concrete, and it was audible in his voice, that he was confused, damned confused. If anything, he noticed how he wasn’t scared of Ruvik, not at all. He raised his hand to touch the stinging wound on his neck; Jesus… what the fuck was wrong with him. He walked, nearly stomped over to Ruvik and glared back at him, unimpressed, now that the shock had settled a little bit.    
  
“What the fuck do you mean I’m yours?” Maybe that was a little too close to the face, and a little too threatening, eh. 

  
  


**Ruvik:**

He had wanted to be a lot more annoyed and angry at the man… He had wanted to possibly, just… a little… Slap him, or to just throw him around a little, but he had instead found that threats seemed to be more than enough for the moment. He felt pretty good about that, now he wasn’t all that angry with the other male anymore, now it felt a little better. 

It seemed like Sebastian wasn’t very glad about his threats, not to mention that they apparently seemed… vague. He was pretty sure that he had gotten his point across, but judging by the angry man who came stomping after him, maybe he hadn’t been very clear at all. 

Ruvik opened his mouth to answer, however, as Seb came a little too close to his liking, he backed a step, causing himself to end up with his back to a wall. Not in a way that made him trapped but definitely not a very powerful strategic move or position to be in. The man was, however, in his face and there was little he could do to change that fact just now. There… was part of him, a big part… That really enjoyed having him close. It made him want to push their lips together again, to try and show that the detective was his now; He wanted to enjoy himself during this once in a lifetime opportunity.

“The general idea seem to be that I am insane, or a psychopath, sometimes both if they feel generous enough. However, my more direct issue is that I am trapped in the world inside my own head and I would very much enjoy not being trapped here. As I am sure you would. I do believe that my biggest issue is getting out of this Hell.” He tried to look the man in the eyes but the more he tried the harder it got, resulting in the man looking down at the man’s shoulder instead. 

“Joseph couldn’t deal with it. I thought I was being pretty clear at that point.” He answered simply, trying to ignore the fact that his breath was speeding up from being this close to the man. Trying to stay calm enough and not allow desires to take over whatsoever.

“I have decided that you are mine now. For as long as you are inside here, you are mine. It doesn’t matter that you have a wife, I am still planning on keeping you. You have promised that you would… Have sexual contact with me again, it is neither my fault, nor concern, that you have a wife, hence, I will expect you to be able to deal with the fact that I will show no respect towards her in sleeping with you.” Just speaking about it made him want to be touched by Sebastian again, made him want to feel that connection and warmth again.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
“You’re not making any fucking sense, at all,” he started, breathing down on the other’s face, glaring at him. Ruvik really was just spouting nonsense at this point, and saying things that clearly weren’t that relevant.    
  
“Joseph couldn’t deal with what? What the Hell are you talking about?”    
  
The mentioning of his friend, and partner at work, clearly made him at the very least intrigued, and very confused, as if he was supposed to know Joseph Oda well enough to understand what the Hell Ruvik was on about, but he clearly didn’t, he had no idea what the other was talking about.    
  
Did Ruvik snoop inside of Sebastian’s head? As the scientist continued speaking, it seemed like a rather logical assumption to make, why else would the man rave on about his wife, of all damned things. Sebastian hadn’t talked one bit about his past, nothing at all. The burnt man shouldn’t know a thing about Myra, unless he had found it out on his own. Most of all, he was clearly misunderstanding something incredibly stupid here.    
  
Myra disappeared. She was gone, and everyone, all his friends and family, were telling Sebastian to move on. He had tried to move on. Hence, she was of little to no relevance in relation to anything that was happening in this Hellhole.    
  
“What the fuck… First of all, I am no one’s but my own, and yes, I fucking agreed to sex, so calm down. Secondly, my wife left years ago, I don’t even know where she is or if she’s alive, everyone always tells me to move on, and I have, so why the Hell is she relevant to any of this?” 

  
  


**Ruvik:**   
Hadn’t he been clear enough? It seemed like he had been far too vague for Sebastian to understand him. Was the man not aware at all when it came to Joseph Oda and his feelings? It seemed to be the likeliest explanation. 

Now that was… tragic. 

Upon meeting the half japanese the first time, Ruvik had observed him from the outside before deciding to force his way inside his head. He had done this with too many people to remember or care to count them, the clear result seemed to be an increased rate of transformation into a Haunted. Meaning that Ruvik opening their heads to look inside, no, not literary opening their skulls,  made it a lot easier for his own world and influence to sip inside them. A person with more mental power could resist the infection of his world longer but it was much harder to do so with an open wound into one’s mind. He was aware that the other detective had changed a few times but out of sheer willpower, he had managed to return from being a Haunted, that alone was very impressive. If he hadn’t been so focused on finding Leslie Withers, he might have actually had studied Joseph more. 

Either way, upon entering the man’s mind, he had seen many things related to Sebastian Castellanos, to the point where it was just barely contained enough to not be an obsession. He had thought it very natural for the detective to know that his partner was, in fact, infatuated with the ragged man. It seemed like Sebastian could be somewhat clueless to things that happened right under his nose. 

Then, the man pointed out that he had gotten something very wrong. The wife had left him…? As soon as he heard that, all the hard edges in his face seemed to disappear, the darkness of the shadows weren’t as, well, dark anymore, and he looked him straight in the eyes, looking for the truth. 

Oh...  

Oh. 

He wasn’t lying. 

Somehow, that made his heart feel a lot less… heavy. He hadn’t forced the man to cheat on anyone, not that things like that really mattered when he was a killer! It just felt a little less… Wrong. The idea that he had been jealous and angry because he himself felt used by a man who had someone else he actually cared about, didn’t even cross the scientist’s mind. 

“...Actually. It doesn’t seem relevant at all to what is currently going on,”  he slowly admitted. Now it seemed awfully strange to have proclaimed Sebastian his own out of nowhere like that. Perhaps that had been… a little strange. He couldn’t believe that he actually cared how the man saw him. 

Ruvik disappeared in smoke, apparing a little further away in the corridor. “I can feel the boy close. We don’t have time for this wasting of time now.”

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
He needed a moment, or possibly ten, to wrap his head around whatever the Hell the burn victim was talking about. For a while, he was just standing there, staring after the scientist that had made his escape, awaiting Sebastian to follow him.    
  
What the Hell.    
  
Slowly he reached up with his hand, covering the fresh bite mark on his neck, grimacing slightly from the stinging pain, but really, it wasn’t that bad. He looked after Ruvik, staring in silence for a long time, processing what just happened.    
  
After some consideration, it actually hit Sebastian what was very likely happening. Had Ruvik just found out something about his life and past, and in turn acted out, like some jealous lover or partner, finding out that the person they were involved with already had a partner and family….? That was surreal, but also the most probable and logical explanation to all the things Ruvik was saying, and how quickly he changed when he got to know the truth, when he got to know that Myra was gone. 

What the Hell… they had been involved for what, once? 

Well, to be fair, it was kind of fair to want to be treated decently, even for a man ta had been as severely mistreated as Ruvik. Even a one night stand at a bar somewhere would be pretty pissed off to get to know that their partner of choice was cheating on someone else, it didn’t sit well with people’s moral; Hell, Sebastian would have been severely pissed off at such a revelation, himself.    
  
The fact that Ruvik could act like that, and think like that was almost humorous, it didn’t seem to fit the image of him, at all. It also said a good thing or ten about his personality, and the fact that he still had some sort of base morals, and a desire to be treated fairly. Probably, it was damned hard to tell, in the end, but really, it was what it all the evidence pointed towards at this point.    
  
It was a silly sort of endearing that was incredibly out of place, under their circumstances. How could someone like Ruvik be cute? It was a mystery. Well, as long as they were in here, and on the same side, and Ruvik wasn’t being so bad, then maybe it was alright that he was a little possessive, it was clearly a lot better than being enemies. If anything, it was too late for regrets, and Sebastian did feel bad for the poor fucker. 

Funny, when someone else saw the nightmare fuel that was Ruvik, and looked at him being all shadowy and threatening, they were probably not considering him to have human emotions, and really, at this point, it really looked more like he was upset, and embarrassed, than anything else. 

“Yeah, I don’t know what the Hell you figured out, but it’s not relevant.”    
  
It seemed that he wouldn’t get any proper answers about Joseph, but supposedly, it could wait.    
  
Instead, he did follow Ruvik, joining him into what was apparently the Victoriano estate, again. Yeah, these places were fucking strange. This time, all doors but the one leading to the basement seemed completely barricaded. Of course, there was not much of a discussion to that, Ruvik didn’t quite seem like he understood it either.    
  
Instead they proceeded forward, back into the room that looked like something that could have been Ruvik in the basement, to where he found him, the second time. Perhaps this was a good place to see to that they were on somewhat good terms again. He could try, definitely. It was probably better to try.    
  
“Any clue why the Hell we are back here?”    
  
By then, he had walked up beside the other, once more being close.    
  
Could he do like before, just kind of, flirt, like he had to remind himself that Ruvik isn’t particularly scary?    
  
“Hey, you know that you did bargain for it, too, right? You can touch as much as you please, but don’t fucking bite me like that again, kinky as it could be, here is not the fucking place for that sort of thing.”   
  
By then, he was really close to Ruvik, and if anything, rather suggestive. Fuck it, he supposed he could just lean in for a kiss. Yeah, that seemed reasonable enough at the time, under the circumstances. Reminding the poor soul that it wasn’t supposed to be that hard. This was turning into a damned lot of thought process to find reasons to excuse the detective’s choices and actions, strange as they were.

  
  


**Ruvik:**

The mansion. He was starting to get just a tad annoyed with this bloody place. No matter where he walked in this world inside his head, he seemed to be forced back here. Maybe he should just burn it down here too, see if that stopped him from walking around in circles. He couldn’t hold back a loud sigh, moving his hand up over the side of his burnt face, the part where he could touch without hurting or being too reminded of his condition. “If you manage to figure out why we keep on returning to this prison, do inform me, I am starting to get fairly tired of it myself.” 

He was about to start walking again but instead, he found that he had a ragged man by his shoulder. Sebastian looked surprisingly tired now, and his eyes were somewhat… kind. Why did he look at him like that? Flashes of the man’s face during sexual activities entered his mind, causing the scientist to turn his head away. He did, however, not move. “...What are-” He stopped there, looking at the man with a confused hint in his eyes before the other’s intentions dawned on him.

Sebastian was so close; his lips were somewhat broken but he was still handsome. Especially to someone who had spent most his life surrounded by boring scientists and Marcelo Jimenez’s ugly face. The closest to a handsome man he had ever gotten, not counting sleeping with Sebastian, was the head of Mobius. That man had the same charm as a shark, and just as many teeth. He couldn’t find the Administrator of Mobius that handsome, only admitting that to someone else, the man could be attractive. Either way, Sebastian was good looking, so much  that it was hard to look at him. Ruvik avoided his eyes, and still did not move awain, instead, he moved closer and clumsily, due to forgetting that his position didn’t fully aline with the detective’s, let their lips touch. 

“You believe it’s sexually stimulating when I bite you? I did not think that was as common of a turn on as the book suggested it was.” The burnt man spoke as they had broken the kiss, turning to face him. If he didn’t acknowledge that he was nervous, perhaps it would not be that obvious and would not stop him from touching the man. Yes, he wanted to touch him… A lot. Ruvik had gotten a taste of it once, now, he wanted to be greedy, before the chance disappeared altogether, it was human nature in its simplest form, something he had always been on the observing end of, until this point.

Ruvik allowed the burnt hands to move up, reaching forward and allowed the to rest on the side of the man’s head. At his temples. He almost expected the man to pull back, to think it uncomfortable or scary to have Ruvik touch him; Sebastian didn’t move awain, much to the burn victim’s surprise. Carefully and surprisingly gently, he moved his hands over the man’s head, over his hair, starting to hungrily touch him. He wanted to know what every strand of hair felt like, he wanted to touch his cheeks and lips and then neck, and so he did, immersing himself in just exploring the man before him. He was greedy, but not rough, the fingertips hungry for the contact of another person. 

He didn’t know when his mind had moved it there, but there was suddenly a bed behind Sebastian, upon which Ruvik found that he had pushed the man onto. He only realized this as the detectie became a lot shorter, having been pushed down on the bed in a sitting position. The scientist blinked once before slowly smiling, hungrily, wanting. “Then would you take off your clothes? I promise not to bite this time.” He added the last part, still smirking suggestively, as far as his face actually allowed it.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
It was definitely working, this time around, slowly but surely, they were a lot better with the kiss, even despite Ruvik’s obvious disadvantage in just how little he could move is lips and mouth.    
  
This was a lot better, and almost arousing, especially if he let himself just get drawn into it. This was how he preferred any sexual partner, well, had Ruvik been a woman and less scarred, but at least, the situation itself was a lot better than the first time, because like this, it felt like two people that actually knew what they wanted, sharing something because both were clear about their wants.    
  
Yeah, if things were turning this way, Sebastian much preferred it if they could both just enjoy themselves on somewhat equal terms, if they could actually have fun.    
  
He somewhat obediently sat down on the bed that had suddenly appeared; heh, well, Ruvik couldn’t make it much damn clearer with what he wanted, if he was creating beds out of nowhere for it. It was hard to tell if the scientist was nervous or not, but he sure as Hell didn’t let it affect his actions too much; seeing him take what he want like this felt a lot more natural, like they clicked, just a bit.

To Ruvik’s words, he couldn’t help but to grin, evidently amused. “Is the no biting bargain off the table if I make you work for it?” he asked, letting his arms sneak around the waist of the other, trying to pull him down into his lap. The whole atmosphere and attitude of this was different, a whole different feel of actual lust. He could probably do this, and enjoy it more than the last time. Good, this definitely wasn’t a mistake, then, and he couldn’t give two flying fucks if it was, because he needed the venting as much as the burn victim.    
  
“I think I might like it more when you do have a bit more bite, that’s pretty hot; you really just don’t have to bite through the skin,” he commented.    
  
“Be my guest,” he signalled, pointing towards the buttons on his waistcoat.

 

  
  
**Ruvik:**

The pull was strange to him, the man’s first instinct was to resist it, but he found that he was pulled into the lap of the man he very much wanted to have sexual contact with, his muscles eased up somewhat. Finding himself in the man’s lap was also strangely pleasant, it had been somewhat uncomfortable to be under him, especially in the end, to be on top of the man, yes, that was indeed a lot better. He liked the little extra height he had over Sebastian from this position. 

“You find it hot to be bitten?” He sounded a tad confused about it, but not confused enough to question or deny the man what he wanted. Apparently ‘biting’ in a sexual situation was a lot more about nibbling, and most likely sucking, than it was to actually, physically bite. That did make more sense now, when he considered the fact that sex was supposed to be pleasant and not painful with a little pleasure as well. From what he gathered, Sebastian wasn’t really the ‘nice and soft’ type, but much more…. Mh… Wild? 

To know what he wanted and to actually grab for it, that was something that Ruben Victoriano had always had in his head. If one left things alone, they would disappear, leaving it to someone else would cause one to lose the object of desire. He had wanted to live without the burns and the pain, thus, he had created a new world. If he, by all the terms of the word, wanted Sebastian, he really should just reach out and take him. It wasn’t like the man could resist him here, neither did it seem like he wanted to anymore, hopefully, perhaps, not so much. 

Ruvik shifted his weight and moved his hand, causing the other male to be pulled up onto the bed and pushed down there, arms and legs locked beside him by invisible chains. To make sure that he man didn’t panic, he leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. “I advice you see this as punishment for being too rough the last time.” The burnt man moved back and started to undress the other, only stopping here and there to fight with a belt buckle or strap. 

Soon, Sebastian was all naked before him, leaving complete freedom to roam over his body. By the way he was touching the detective, it was clear that he had complete awareness of every muscle and nerve under his fingers. He was extremely skilled with finding pleasurable spots and places to touch, combining his exploration with a bit of much needed massage for the exhausted body. They were both aware of the fact that he couldn’t move his lips and mouth very well but the tongue itself was very curious about Sebastian’s nipples and neck, not to mention the area behind and around the ears. 

After touching the man for much longer than needed, after carefully avoiding the member and the balls, Ruvik finally touched the erection, after coating his fingers with lube, finding that he really could make things material at will. Despite not being used to maneuver something like this, he managed to do it… decently. Not to hard but perhaps a little too loosely for the detective’s taste. 

He positioned himself, above the man and still mostly dressed in comparison to the man below him, straddling him with a small smirk on his lips. “You’re mine, Seb.” The words sounded a lot more playful now, as he sank onto the man’s dick, his own eyes rolling back from pleasure because the intruder that rapidly filled him up. This burning feeling was really nothing but pleasant, the feeling of Sebastian below him, unable to move but clearly just as lust filled as himself, was pleasant. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**

To some degree, maybe Sebastian had gone insane. This was supposed to be wrong, and feel wrong, and be scary, but it wasn’t. Really, it was arousing and compared to all the other things that had tried to string him up or hold him down in here, Ruvik was definitely preferable. In this sort of scenario, he didn’t quite mind being forced down and stripped, for sex, he definitely didn’t mind that. He would have been a lot more suspicious of the scientist, and wouldn’t trust him like this, but inside here, really, he had to remember that in the very end, there wasn’t shit he could do against Ruvik, anyway. Instead, it was better to just enjoy it, to allow himself that, without worrying about things he couldn’t change.    
  
The trust seemed well invested, because Ruvik, despite lacking experience, seemed to know the human body in and out, which was definitely an advantage in this situation. He didn’t hurt Sebastian, not once, and all that he did was maddeningly, playfully, almost torturously pleasing.    
  
By the time Ruvik finally slid down on top of him, his whole body was aching for the relief; so far, there were no regrets in letting the scientist do as he pleased. 

_ You’re mine, Seb.  _   
  
Fine, that was kind of hot. There was this look in his eyes, when Ruvik looked alive like this, that reminded a lot of one of the things that had been so attractive about Myra; their eyes were very similar to one another, and that look in them, as well. 

 

\---

 

Once. Twice. A third time after a longer session of just talking; this was all surprisingly very pleasant; finally, Ruvik was opening up enough to not be on complete defense. Not so strange, when they both managed to positively exhaust themselves again.   
  
He got to know so many interesting details, like the fact that their own Junior Detective, Juli Kidman, was, according to the scientist, a spy of this organisation called Mobius. She wanted to kill Leslie Withers, who all of the people apparently needed to get out of there. That Doctor, who Sebastian had met earlier, in that village, seemed to be quite the rotten egg, if Ruvik was telling the truth. It didn’t surprise him much, the man was unpleasant to say the least. 

It really did feel good to get all that information he would never otherwise have, about this organisation called Mobius, about the people in here, about the machine itself and more to that. Having Ruvik snuggled up against his chest was, weird, but not bad, not necessarily, not like this. Evidently, the scientist’s defenses were a lot lower, which was good, they both needed some sort of trust established, and this seemed like the easiest way.    
  
They had one particularly interesting discussion. Sebastian pointed out that despite hearing so much of what a vicious killer and psychopath Ruvik was supposed to be, he seemed like none of it. The burnt man had clearly been doing the organisation’s bidding, and had been in a position where refusal led to punishment; people tended to do the unethical things asked of them, under those circumstances. It didn’t sit amazingly well with Sebastian that Ruvik had experimented on live people, but the scientist was honest about it, and knew that the morals were questionable, and had clearly not been doing it for fun. The whole difference, however, was that he didn’t at all seem like the sort of psychotic vicious killer, and mad scientist, that the Doctor had painted him up to be. Rather, Sebastian made sure that he knew of the fact that he had probably been the most reasonable person that the detective had met, since he had been thrown into STEM. Ruvik seemed to appreciate it, a lot, enough to hide his face against the shoulder of the taller man he was resting half on top of, seeming… really happy. Cute.    
  
It was hard to tell exactly how much time had passed, but after a while, Sebastian moved to stir the both of them. It was rather funny that he was seemingly getting quite some rest, while around Ruvik.    
  
“Hey, we should keep going, shouldn’t we?”    
  


 

  
**Ruvik:**

Sexual activities with Sebastian Castellanos were more than Ruvik could ever had hoped for, or imagined. He didn’t feel as self conscious this time, something that made everything a lot easier. The first time, he had been bothered to show himself to the man but by now, it wasn’t very hard. The man seemed to like it when he, too, was feeling good. Ruvik had suspected the detective of being selfish, the greedy type that took what he wanted, but he seemed perfectly able to just give as well. 

They rested for a while after the workout, the broken man’s body secretly complaining about how he was pushing himself too far, urging him to just rest for awhile and so they did. He didn’t tell his lover, but he had a nagging suspicion that the man under his head might just understand without being told. Ruvik found that laying on Sebastian’s chest, his head just a little on the shoulder and an arm over the man’s stomach, was a very comforting way to lay. To his even greater surprise, he found that he was able to talk to the man, not too personal things but they could discuss without it becoming too uncomfortable for either part. 

Ruvik had been thinking about something else, as he listened to the man’s heartbeat, something that took a little longer to voice than he thought. The burn victim gathered enough courage to ask if there was any way for someone without a penis to be inside a man. His reasoning was that there were pleasure toys for women, shouldn’t such a thing be able to be used by someone like him as well? He had an idea about how he could create something like a dildo that was kept in place with straps. Sebastian wasn’t very shy on telling him that he wasn’t wrong, and that sex like that was possible. This had been followed by the question if the detective was willing to try this. To Ruvik’s surprise, he said yes.

After having sex with Sebastian and then crawl back on top of him for two more rounds, they were back to laying on the bed, the scientist’s body objecting a lot to all the action that had been going on. Talking for a bit was very welcomed. 

Ruvik told the man a few things that he hadn’t really planned on speaking about, such as the Kid, whose full name was apparently Juli Kidman, not just Kid. He told him about The Administrator, a man who somehow seemed to have gained some power around his mind, much to his disliking. Not only that but he told the detective about Marcelo Jimenez, informing him of some of the things the man had done and made him do, also confessing to the fact that he thought the man to look like a pug with a shaved face, not very attractive in the least.

And finally, he had talked about the way people addressed him. How he had been Ruben or Mr Victoriano for a long time. How some people, like The Administrator, had called him much crueler thing,s and how he had finally been reduced to ‘Ruvik,’ the name of a labrat, a crude mixture of his two names that they had stitched together as he stopped being a human. 

He would most likely not have spoken about any of this unless Sebastian had told him that he wasn’t anything like a psychopath or even a sociopath. Ruvik had since long thought the description to be faulty, but some part of him supposed that psychopaths weren’t likely to be as aware of their own nature as the surroundings. It felt very relieving to know that someone else but himself saw the lacking evidence in that statement. It was… Good. He didn’t think that he cared that much about what someone else thought, but he had clearly been wanting to hear that. Sebastian didn’t even seem to find his original objective for STEM to be faulty in the least, at least not according to the words of said man. The Administrator and many scientists had mocked him for his desire to create a place to run off to, a place where he wouldn’t have to be in pain, where he could see Laura again, where he wouldn’t have to be severely handicapped; of course, that was far from how reality had turned out.

The conversation died out after a while, allowing the scientist to drift off. It wasn’t long until he had fallen asleep on the man’s arm. Even if Sebastian attacked him when he was sleeping, he wouldn’t be able to kill him, as he was likely to wake up from the first attack. Also, he didn’t think that the man wanted to hurt him, especially not after all the talking they had just done. At least for right now, the man wasn’t a danger to him. 

He wasn’t sure how long it took until he was carefully shaken awake but Sebastian’s voice brought him back to the world of consciousness, making him open the far too heavy eyelids. “...” He almost, almost asked for them to remain like this, for just a little longer, but he couldn’t waste that time, that was but a foolish dream that had remained far too long in his head already. 

When he sat up and then got to his feet, he had returned to looking like a mummy, dressed in one of his dress shirts with bandages everywhere, complete with a set of black dress pants. He wasn’t too aware of it, but it was clear that he wanted to present as human as he could to the man, close to desperate in at least try and not look like a monster. “You are right, we should.” 

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Sitting up again, after having rested, felt damned good, almost surprisingly so, despite this having happened on a few occasions at this point. Another slightly surprising thing was the feeling of standing up and moving about after being fucked by someone else, someone that had luckily been knowledgeable enough with the human body to make it nothing but a pleasant, but rather weird, experience. It wasn’t the first time Sebastian experienced that sort of sexual encounter, only, last time, he had been a lot younger and a little too drunk for his own good. It wasn’t something he’d normally agree to, not something he wanted or desired. Then again, neither was anything else of this, being intimate at all with a man was definitely not on his list of wants. 

The fact that the detective assumed himself to be straight didn’t really seem to matter for shit, in a place like this. A dick up your ass was, logically, preferable to being strung up and dissected by psychopaths, or eaten alive. Hell, it was even surprisingly pleasant. Being side by side by the owner of this place and world itself, and the person with the most control of it, was, in itself, very good, and felt a lot safer. At least, the detective was pretty convinced that was all there was to it, and would likely keep repeating it to himself. If he repeated it to himself, perhaps, his will wouldn’t weaver, and he would keep on believing himself to be doing the right thing.    
  
Unlike Ruvik, Sebastian dressed, rather than just suddenly appearing with clothes.

Right, so they had to move forward from there, hopefully to finally leave the damned mansion behind, but perhaps they’d just be thrown right back in place. There was no knowing unless they tried. Time to rush right back into the fire, then, hopefully not literally, as much of a friend fire had been lately, he would very much like to not have to go through similar things anymore; well, the detective wasn’t very hopeful in that aspect. 

Ruvik’s basement room continued into a corridor opposite of the opening they had gone through, similar to the one he had passed before, perhaps even the exact same one. Although, this time, Sebastian stopped, after having walked ahead of Ruvik, after starting to hear beeping noises of machinery through a door that was just slightly ajar. Well, it certainly didn’t lead back to the places he had been then, what the Hell.    
  
Tired of this shit, he drew his handgun, simultaneously trying to convince himself that he was ready for whatever was on the other side of the door. Slowly, but surely, he pushed the door open; obviously, he had already signalled Ruvik to be quiet, hoping his companion would be sensible, but also, Sebastian trusted him to be; the scientist was, after all, more of the stand-back-and-observe type of personality, as far as the detective knew.   
  
Speaking of scientists, and perhaps a bit of shaved pugs, while at it.

The first sight Sebastian witnessed upon opening the door wasn’t quite a monster, but perhaps more than the man tagging along behind him. It was a bizarre sight, but it could as well be because it made more immediate sense than most other things one witnessed in this convoluted mess of gore and terror. There was a machine that stood out from the place itself, because while looking out of the real world, and very science fiction oriented, it looked like a futuristic machine. Atop of, or perhaps more accurately inside of it, a bit of both, laid the often mentioned mental patient, seemingly in slumber, with a strange device, almost like talons or three spider legs, locking his head in place.    
  
Standing right next to the machine was the man that Ruvik seemed to despise so much, tapping on a screen and buttons, adjusting something connected to whatever Leslie Withers was placed in.    
  
There was one thing Ruvik had been particulate about; Marcelo Jimenez was, in fact, not someone who understood STEM all that properly, even if he probably knew more about the machine than anyone else beside Ruvik himself, having been the man who took credit for the science that the burnt man came up with. Fair to say, Sebastian didn’t trust Jimenez at all, at this point, especially after hearing so much of the different side of the story, of just how much these people, Mobius, Jimenez and others, had cornered, hurt and used Ruvik for their own agendas. Either the man ahead of him was an idiot who believed in it all, despite having seen and knowing Ruvik’s past, or he had simply chosen to ignore it, and lie to the detective. Either or, said detective certainly wanted to know what was going on, before he would let this potential liar and corporation dog jeopardize anything. Right when Sebastian took a step inside, his gun was pointed at Jimenez, and he spoke, not quite sure where to start; “Doc…”   
  
“What the Hell do you think you’re doing?” It was, in all honesty, the best and most straightforward damned way he could think of what to say. For a second, he glanced behind himself to look for Ruvik, rather not having the man reveal himself just yet.    
  
Arrogant as ever, Jimenez didn’t even look at the detective. The first time they had encountered each other, the doctor had simply ordered Sebastian about, not sparing a second to explain or listen, evidently just expecting the detective to mindlessly do his bidding. A man used to having subordinates, evidently, and not used to much else. How he looked down on the detective was already clear, a bit like alike with Ruvik perhaps, and many other brainiacs, in their pursuit of knowledge and all that shit, looking down on people who don’t share the same knowledge. Jimenez simply spit out the words, not even bothering to look around; “trying to save us.”    
  
Moving around the machine in which the patient was put, the doctor kept on ignoring Sebastian, and it was, in honesty, damned aggravating. The shithead was too busy to explain himself, again. Further, after all Ruvik’s explanations of how this world looked, and how little people understood it, it was hard to imagine that Jimenez was actually saving them, quite difficult. Leslie looked like a lab rat on a table, and the detective had fair suspicions that to the doctor, the patient was no more than just that. Hell, treating people like objects, tools, and experiments had gotten them all into this mess to begin with.    
  
“Really, ‘cause it looks like you’re making another monster to me,” he responded, annoyance dripping from his voice. Ideally, they should all just stop and discuss this matter, seeing they all seemed to want to get out, but he suspected that it wasn’t as easy as that, and wouldn’t be that easy. Sebastian sighed and walked up closer to the doctor, awaiting him to actually notice the fact that he was held at gunpoint. 

“I don’t have time for this, Detective,” Jimenez immediately sneered back, still ignoring him. The voice betrayed a great amount of stress, it seemed, he seemed nearly panicky kind of stressed. Well, Sebastian could see how that made sense; the way Ruvik made things sound, if the doctor was thrown in here, he was likely deemed useless to the organisation by now; the agency seemed to have little to no concern but to prevent Ruvik from leaving, by killing Leslie Withers, and the rest of them all were just unfortunate collateral damage. 

Fucking Hell-... “Neither do I.”    
The detective raised the gun loading it ready to fire with a click, finally giving awareness to the man opposite of him to exactly what position he found himself in.    
  
Jimenez didn’t look frightened, rather… upset, stressed and annoyed beyond belief. Defeated, he lowered his arms and just stood there, realizing that maybe, it was about damned time he explained himself a little to the man holding him at gunpoint. Even so, the upcoming explanation simply dripped with arrogance and annoyance, showing just how much he thought he didn’t have time to bother with this.    
  
“Leslie has been here before, and made it back. He has survived being limked to Ruvik; the only patient ever, as far as I know.”    
  
Vague, were all scientists this damned hard to get through to? It did add a bit of information; Ruvik hadn’t per say withheld the fact that Leslie had before been experimented on or linked to STEM, it was just probably something that he didn’t bothered mention straight out, after mentioning the experiments and how Leslie’s mind was their key out of here, and how it sustained in this environment. The detective would likely have to pry more to get any straight answer out of him.    
  
“Wonderful, and what does that have to do with any of this?”

“He’s our way out, Detective. Our only way back.” 

Well, duh, he had understood that at this point. Fucking Hell, this never ceased to be a headache.    
  
The doctor’s respect for the weapon pointed towards him quickly faded, as he started going about what he was doing, evidently considering his explanation satisfactory, not that the detective would agree. Once more, Sebastian glanced back towards the entrance and Ruvik, apparently pretty much hidden to their view from this angle, not having made himself known yet. Huh, well, he wasn’t about to just shoot the doctor, if Ruvik wasn’t interfering, Hell, he would like some sort of input to what was going on from someone a lot more knowledgeable; was Ruvik even still there? He sure as Hell hoped that his companion hadn’t left him in this situation.    
  
Jimenez clearly started something, as it stirred the mental patient awake, startling Sebastian with a jarring scream of pain; jarring because it felt like the voice echoed and turned into an entire choir of screams. On nearly reflex, before he had a chance to think it through properly, he raised his gun against the scientist, taking a step forward, wanting to stop him from whatever he was doing to hurt the boy. Before he could try to stop the doctor from what he was doing, that awful, painful and loud noise returned, making him lose his balance and footing a little.   
  
“That-... sound..” Maybe he hoped for an explanation to the sound, it was hard to tell when he could barely stand. He made a move towards Jimenez, who immediately reacted to it, not expecting any good intentions; Sebastian could barely make out his words through the ringing.    
  
“No!” A surprisingly clear command, “It’s working!” 

The detective could make out the hand held out to signal him to remain in place. What, was it working…? He would probably feel a lot more about that statement if the sound wasn’t all but drilling holes in his skull, right at that moment.    
  
White flashed up, and the scenery around them faded, as if it had been an illusion all along, into a big, white, room, unlike anything Sebastian had ever seen. There was a machine, evidently, but it was hard to get a good look when he could barely keep his eyes open with that noise, struggling to remain standing. There were a ton of those tubs, the ones like where he had found Joseph, and something in the middle that they were all connected to, but the lights and the noise made it impossible to distinguish what. Before the detective had any chance at all to look whether there were people in the tubs, everything faded back to where they had been standing, and it wasn’t until the sound stopped, that Sebastian realised that the sound of the machine had stopped as well. What the Hell…?   
  
Now, that everything else turned so silent, the weak and desperate sobbing of the boy in the machine became evident, as he was crying desperately, yet not all that loudly. It was, in short, a heartbreaking sight. Perhaps on pure instinct, or well trained work habits, he quickly moved up beside Leslie, worried to no end. The people at risk in a situation always came first in his profession, saving people was what it was all about. Fuck, it was no telling what had just happened to the boy. “Leslie, are you alright?!” He didn’t mean for his voice to be so loud, but it was hard to adjust right after that painful noise.    
  
Meanwhile, Jimenez was making frustrated and panicked noises, fiddling about with the machine, that was refusing to start up again. He spoke under his breath, obviously completely lost in his failure of an experiment. “It should have… Why didn’t it work…?” He sounded perplexed as well as panicked, as if he had been so hopeful, and so very certain, that he had found his way out.    
  


 

  
**Ruvik:**

Following Sebastian felt a little surreal. Every other time, they had simply ran into each other, this was the first time that they stayed together for at least a little longer. The scientist had a suspicion that they might not be together all that long from here but he at least hoped that they could remain alongside one another for a little longer. It seemed that when moving from one location to another, people tended to separate. It never bothered him much earlier, but after being around someone that treated him like any other man, compared to those that acted as if he was a rabid monster or a tool, made him hope for them to not part anytime soon. The burned man wondered if it was worth pointing out to the detective that the man was placing himself in a lot more danger, being the one in the lead, than if Ruvik had been the one leading the way. In the end, he settled upon the conclusion that he always lost the man when going ahead, meaning that staying in a position where he could keep track of him was more preferable. 

The detective suddenly raised a hand, signaling the scientist to halt. He followed the order as he glanced upon the door before them, standing slightly ajar.  The shorter man could hear the beeping of machines as well, none of them sounded familiar to his ears, which confused him. Who would build machines inside of his head but him? No haunted was able to perform such a task and no one should know enough about STEM to… Mh. There was in fact, one person who might be able to do something like it. Ruvik would never have believed the man capable of it, but the maker of the machine being anyone but the hairless pug, seemed even more unlikely, than Marcelo having figured out a way to build it. He shouldn’t jump to conclusion before he had gotten to know more, which meant that following Sebastian’s directions and stay in place wasn’t too bad of an idea. 

Ruvik listened to the two men speaking. He wasn’t surprised to learn that Marcelo was there, but listening to the man speaking was enough to pique his interests. Not that he expected anything of the man but he still stayed where he was, out of sight. So far, most of the things that the man said had made enough sense but he was not ready to hear that Leslie Withers was in the room just next door. It became very hard to not teleport inside and try to grab the boy, all he needed was right there, but… There was a high risk that grabbing at the boy would cause the detective to turn against him. He also had no idea how the situation looked inside the room, just entering without any plan was likely to only yield bad results. He chose to remain passive, listening a while longer to them speak. 

Suddenly, Leslie screamed and Ruvik felt as if someone was pulling at his mind. It was a disgusting feeling, as if part of him was being yanked in a direction towards which flesh wasn’t supposed to go. It was unpleasant, but it wasn’t exactly painful. Soon after, he realized what was happening, something was changing in the world. Someone was changing his world without his consent. This was the first time someone had done in so close to him, all the other times had felt vague at best, but this was a lot clearer. 

He wasn’t sure how long it took for him to regain some semblance of control but as it did come back to him, Ruvik wasted no time at entering the room. He saw the world around them almost pulsate in an unnatural and somewhat alarming way. He saw the boy he had been searching for, his ticket out of here, as well as the scientist’s crude machine. He hated to admit it but Marcelo  did seem to understand STEM somewhat, at least a lot more than he would have expected the man to. 

Still, once the fool, ever a fool. The old man had no idea what he was actually doing. He looked around and found the cables for the machine. He moved his hand and made them move out of their proper place, effectively stopping what Marcelo’s apparatus was doing. The effect lingered for a little longer, until all three of them had returned to the room they started in. 

He noted that Sebastian had the mental patient under control and so, he turned to Marcelo Jimenez, who had jumped at the control panel to try and get his work to function again. 

Leslie had little to no idea about anything that was happening, but like a frightened animal, who only knew that their cries of pain and helplessness would bring about predators, he tried to keep his voice down as he cried. Sebastian wasn’t even visible as a person to the tearfilled eyes, only as some sort of pillar to lean on. He didn’t answer, perhaps he couldn’t even hear the man at that point, but he still moved closer to him. So far, these gathering of colors that smelled of sweat, gunpowder and old smokes hadn’t attempted to harm him or place him in a machine, at least not yet. 

“Why didn’t it work?” Ruvik repeated, signalling to everyone that he was there. Leslie jumped and pressed himself closer to Sebastian, starting to whisper out the word ‘no’ against the man’s chest; he was trembling worse now. 

“For someone who was there, nosing about as it was created, you truly cannot comprehend my work. You are aware of the fact that the subjects inside of STEM cannot exit on their own accord, and still you believe a cobbled together machine can change that?” The scientist’s full attention was aimed towards the man who had once convinced him that he wasn’t a monster for being interested in what things looked like on the inside. Perhaps in some ways, Marcelo had been more of a father figure to him than his own, but now, all the emotions he had left for the man were hateful and angry. It was surprisingly hard to not blow his head up upon simply looking at the traitor. 

“What you just did was not connecting to the outside world,” Ruvik continued, appearing by the side of the machine to inspect the instruments that had previously been connected to the patient, alongside the arms and vires behind the ‘claws.’ Leslie whimpered again, this time moving behind Sebastian. “You simply forced Leslie Withers’s mind to transform the surrounding area to what it remembers the chamber to look like. You did not connect, simply forced this world to change. His mind isn’t aware that it could have any sort of influence over this world, making your invasion all the more painful and straining on the subject. You could have ripped him apart. How you ever became a scientist, or why you believe yourself worthy of that title… I will never understand.” His eyes were almost black with cold, hateful disdain.

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
Ignoring the doctor, Sebastian managed to get the terrified mental patient out of the machine, and down to stand on the floor, beside himself. Leslie Withers seemed to have entered a state of shock where he was simply shaking and clinging to the sources of safety that had presented itself, at least by the detective’s own reference. Then again, Sebastian didn’t have the reference that it was more or less the natural state for the scared albino. 

_ “Why didn’t it work?” _   
  
It might probably have been due to spending the past time around the man that Sebastian immediately recognized the voice, without a second of doubt. He quickly found that he was relieved to turn and see the burn victim, for the sole reason that he wasn’t alone.    
  
He also noticed how Leslie Withers got worse, starting to nearly chant ‘no,’ while hiding as close as he could to the detective. Out of pure respect for the poor thing, he moved back a little, bringing the patient with him. Perhaps a little distance would be good, it made all the sense in the world that Leslie would have such a strong negative reaction to seeing Ruvik, if said man’s theory, about the doctor’s telling the patient all about how dangerous he is, was true. 

Once more, Ruvik proved just how the little deal between them hadn’t come to waste, as he went on explaining exactly what Jimenez had done wrong, and why the experiment wasn’t working. The information was sure needed, if they all wanted out of there.    
  
What sure as Hell was interesting was observing the reactions of said doctor, upon seeing his former subordinate. It was actually pretty damn hard to figure out what the man was thinking, but at the very least he seemed to have been shocked into submission, if only for a moment, standing far too still, unable to say or do a thing, as the other scientist was speaking.    
  
Hoh, actually, the more Ruvik was talking, the more reactions started happening. First there were hands curling up into fists, and the usual gritting of teeth, and then the arms began quivering slightly, and it seemed more out of… well, not fear, perhaps, at least not terror. It all made Marcelo Jimenez look like a very small man in comparison to the not at all much taller scientist opposite of him; it made him seem inferior. At least, that was probably the best guess a fucker would get from seeing that display; merely hearing Ruvik speak at all seemed to bother him beyond belief, as if he couldn’t listen to a mere sentence the burn victim spoke. Wasn’t that fucking tragic.    
  
Nearly suspiciously aligning up with the guesswork Sebastian had done, just watching the situation, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see the shithead of a doctor completely ignore the discussion at hand and desperately grasp at some stupid spider’s thread of an upper hand.    
  
“What are you waiting for, Detective!? Shoot him!” 

Why, is ‘kill him’ too dark to say? Fucking Hell. 

What a pathetic fuck, don’t bring me into the goddamn thing.    
  
The doctor didn’t get more than a raised eyebrow in response, it wasn’t even worth the damned bother to give a response. There were loads of things Sebastian wanted to say at that point, possibly even ask, but he already knew that he wouldn’t possibly get a proper answer out of Jimenez in this situation, when the man was acting like a threatened animal.    
  
Great, silence was met with aggressive arm flailing and more panicked threatened behaviour. “He is going to kill us all! Get him, now!”    
  
It was, in honesty, a little humorous to watch, while simultaneously pathetic. The most tragic part was the man expecting anyone to just do his bidding, and shoot down the evil monster, despite all the evidence telling a different story. It felt damned insulting to be treated like a mindless pet, who was just expected to do the bidding without questioning; Sebastian was starting to have a nagging suspicion of how Ruvik must have felt for a long time, in the outside world.    
  
The detective sighed and raised his handgun. Leslie had taken up a very good hiding position behind him, making him more out of the way. However, instead of pointing the gun in the general direction of the burn victim, Sebastian decided to point it at the doctor. He really wasn’t intending to shoot, just making a point, tired of the false superiority Jimenez was trying so hard to uphold. 

 

The reaction was, once more, actually humorous, and had they not been in such a grave fucking situation in this Hellhole of a place, Sebastian might even have had time to be amused by it. Marcelo Jimenez seemed to be in total disbelief, as if his mind was desperately trying to make sense what was going on, and why the detective wasn’t doing what he was told. Panicked, he turned between Ruvik and Sebastian for a while, obviously trying to understand, looking like a lost dog.   
  
“W-what did he do to you?! He’s behind this world and everything in it, kill him and we might have a chance!”    
  
“Sorry if I find that a little hard to believe,” Sebastian retorted, rolling his eyes. Although, Jimenez seemed absolutely convinced of his point, which felt a little odd. Had he perhaps been tossed in here without knowing his circumstances; did he actually believe that Ruvik was behind them all being trapped in STEM, despite it making no sense at all. 

 

 

**Ruvik:**

He turned back to the machine, continuing to look it over. Trying to remain with his eyes upon the older man seemed without any merit, as it merely served in making him feel angry. He did not have to kill Jimenez, killing him was more likely to result in Sebastian finding the burn victim to be a threat again. Not to mention that the man was expecting it, that bloody fool who thought he knew everything about him. In a sense, it was very satisfying to not hurt the man physically, but instead prove him wrong by doing something that his formed mentor wouldn’t expect of him. 

The cobbled together monstrosity of a machine wasn’t exactly skillfully put together, but it seemed as if it was based on an, in theory simple stimuli by electricity. Ruvik believed that the man had picked this up from his research, but by his own knowledge, this was the first time that Jimenez himself had been working on something like this, in anything other than theory. The machine spoke a different story and it was with a throb of annoyance that the pale man concluded that his old mentor might have worked on a machine like it in the outside world, as well. Otherwise, he couldn’t have build something like this with as much precision as was required for machine to do its job. 

Just as he moved over to the control panel, appearing next to it and leaned in to study it, he heard the old fool bark an order at Sebastian. Ruvik halted in what he was doing and looked over at the scene that he was now part of. Jimenez was standing more or less between them now, looking as if he didn’t dare turn away from him in case of the so called monster attacking him. He slowly glanced over at Sebastian who wore his usual ‘definitely-not-interested-in-this’ expression. It reassured him enough to go back to checking the control panel. 

_ “He is going to kill us all! Get him, now!” _

That sounded panicked enough to cause Ruvik to once again look up and glance at the two men. He didn’t see how his involvement would make anything any better and chose to instead open the cabinet underneath the panel before stiffly bending down to look inside. He couldn’t help but to move his lips a little, letting them curl up into a smile, it was rather amusing to know that their little deal was giving Jimenez such a headache that he was resorting to treating Sebastian as a dog. He knew enough about the man to know that the detective would not appreciate someone ordering him around like that. There was a little more satisfaction still, in the feeling that he had an ally that was not going to betray him so easily. To actually be able to rely on someone else and give some trust in them, now wasn’t that an oddly satisfying feeling.

As he was finished with his examination of the insides of the machine, he stood up and turned completely towards the two men and the boy. They had reached a point where Marcelo Jimenez was now at gunpoint, and he was spinning around between them like a confused dog. It was definitely amusing, so much that he didn’t care to hold back the smile that formed on his lips. The smile lasted a little longer when he heard the detective defend him against the accusations from the other scientist.    
  
“I invited no one into my head. I am as unsatisfied with this very place as everyone else in it.” Ruvik stated without any emotion in his voice, if anything, he sounded tired and little more than that. “You cannot kill me, as a matter of fact. Neither do I believe that it would serve in your favor, even if you somehow did managed to bring about my demise. Without the core, STEM will become all the more unstable, and the Haunted will not disappear. Nor will the… more monstrous creatures… I am certain.” All those manifestations were simply a little too personal to talk about in further detail. Ruvik would much rather not dwell on that subject. 

“I cannot fully see the reasoning behind it but perhaps I simply need to state the obvious to you, Marcelo, for you to be able to understand it. I am not here because I want to. I want to leave this… Hellish place as much as you do. To leave, I need that boy.” He slowly raised a hand and pointed at Leslie, who tried to camouflage himself against Sebastian’s back in the hopes of staying hidden. Having heard Sebastian call this place Hell so many times seemed to have stayed with him, hm. 

  
  


**Sebastian:**   
At a gunpoint, the doctor seemed a little easier to handle, and really, Sebastian had no reason to involve himself any further than that. He’d much rather have them talk, and besides, Leslie Withers was doing a splendid job staying in one place, for this one damned time, finally; he was well hidden behind the detective, the least risky place to be.    
  
Sebastian sighed, loudly; this was goddamned exasperating. At this point, he didn’t even bother answering the agitated doctor; he would much rather ask Ruvik about details. Only, it seemed that Ruvik spoke before he opened his mouth, which was, perhaps, not so bad. Once again, the scientist delivered where the doctor have failed, filling in information that seemed more and more likely to be true.    
  
It seemed that Marcelo Jimenez was silent for a while, not looking any less bewildered, but at least listening to the words of the other. It was impossible to detect whether Ruvik was getting through to the man, at all, even one bit.    
  
Sebastian would have wanted to ask why exactly Leslie was needed, but before that, the doctor spoke up.    
  
“You, Ruvik, have no one but yourself to blame for ending up here;” Jimenez phrased Ruvik as if it was supposed to be demeaning, but then again, Ruvik had explained how the abbreviation of his name was technically an insult in the world of science. There was nearly unspeakable disgust in the voice, but it didn’t seem to be the only thing there, only, Sebastian wasn’t a damned psychiatrist or expert, hence, he couldn’t tell what was really going on.    
  
“You want to get out?” Jimenez first repeated, as if somewhere in between an accusation and confirmation that he heard the man right. “You want to get out,-... Of course…” It looked like he had suddenly had a revelation, glancing over at the detective and mental patient, before looking back at Ruvik. Jimenez groaned, sighing and looked a different sort of angry. “Of course….”    
  
Once again, this situation was starting to fill with that itchy and awful feeling of being left out in something, yet Sebastian really didn’t want to interrupt this, because it had never once helped him understand. More like, he’d ask Ruvik about it once this was all over.    
  
The gaze of the doctor, looking at his former subordinate, was dark, and distasteful, and most of all filled with realization. “If it wasn’t for your childish, rebellious, selfish, attitude, none of us would be here. This would not have happened if you could comply and do your work, like the adult you so claimed to be.”    
  
“And now? Now you plan on taking the life of Leslie, to run away from the consequences of your foolish behaviour,” he started; funny, if Sebastian hadn’t had such negative opinions of the man already, he would have thought he was passionate and caring about said mental patient. Then again,... what the Hell did he just say?    
  
“What?” He didn’t mean for his voice to be so loud, but Sebastian was shocked to hear that. At that given time, he had no time to process it all, or understand it; had there actually been time to process it, he would likely have realised that he too, wouldn’t mind taking the life of another to get out of there, had he been in Ruvik’s situation. Right there and then, however, he only got as far as that gut wrenching, unpleasant feeling of having wanted to know that earlier, and perhaps, an understanding just why the burn victim had been so evasive about explaining why it was so important to get his hands on the mental patient.    
  
The detective didn’t notice, but right there and then there was a sudden gleam of inspiration in the eyes of the doctor, who had stopped mid sentence, to glance over at the rugged man who voiced his obvious confusion, and he looked at him as if he had just had a moment of genius, or well, that he perhaps realised that he had some measure to win the detective back to his side. Thus, the man turned toward his ex subordinate again, this time, actually feeling a tad superior, if he was just right about this…   
  
“You didn’t tell him, did you?” It was a clear accusation, obviously addressing the elephant in the room without having to spell out its name. It only got so much better for the man when he noticed the monster averting his eyes, and actually having a negative emotional response to it. It was perfect, absolutely perfect. He needed to hurry.    
  
“He can claim whatever he wants to you, Detective, but he can’t get out, and will not get out, because Ruben Victoriano is dead.”    
  
What the-..?? The detective looked back and forth between the two scientists in obvious confusion, and perhaps a bit of anger, he really did not like being taken off guard like this, and not knowing. There was this deep pit in his stomach, the worrying feeling that Ruvik might, as he had expected from the beginning, lied to him, as well. It had seemed less and less likely as the time had passed, people did gain trust with time, after all, but the detective had still had some awareness that it was still a possibility. He wasn’t entirely prepared to believe the doctor either, not without hearing him out.    
  
“What you see there is just a projection, a virus in the machine. Because the machine is operating through all that is left of him: his brain, lungs, a few artificially helped organs that keep the brain alive. Don’t look at me like that, it’s his fault, all his fault! Despite me begging him to change his mind, he programmed STEM into only responding to his brain frequency, like a child with a tantrum, not wanting to share his toy; only, he never paid for the machine and was working on it for people that very much wanted the product he had promised them, and that we all had worked so hard for. He knew the risk. I never authorized any of it, but here we are, and it’s all because a grown man couldn’t act like anything but a rebellious child.”

“He wants Leslie Withers because he is the only patient we ever connected to the machine, trying to salvage and save what we could, whose frequency responds to his own. He wants to kill him and steal his body.”   
  
“The Hell-...”    
  
To the doctor, the lack of speech in the man, and evident shock was exactly the result he wanted, hoping to make the detective see the vile creature hidden under all those layers of tragedy. He knew, he had known all along, and admittedly, his passion for the child’s brilliance had blinded him to the vile nature of the man. All that he had seen inside the man’s head was just supporting the idea. 

Sebastian was stuck feeling like he might swallow tar, in the all too thick air, if he tried to speak, just for a second, not knowing where to even start in the convoluted mess of information he had just gotten. Well, perhaps it was more convoluted in his head than it was for those who actually understood it all in detail. He never had a chance to answer.    
  
There was the sound of something large and heavy, suddenly hitting the floor, or rather, perhaps walking, behind them. The sheer weight immediately translated through the sound of it moving.    
  
There was a monster, a huge one, standing a bit behind the doctor, who barely had a chance to think or react to it before it crushed him, like an angry child, stepping on an ant to get some sadistic satisfaction, then again, the thing wasn’t human enough to distinct any emotions other than aggressiveness. Just like that, the doctor was no more, and the detective flinched in surprise, quickly picking up his shotgun, starting to back slightly. All of which was betrayal and desire to have an explanation very quickly exchanged for basic survival instinct. There was no time to be upset with Ruvik, or wanting him to explain himself.    
  


 

**Ruvik:**

The hate and disgust in the doctor’s voice was unmistakable, he might have been annoyed by it if he had still believed in the least that the man before him considered him a person, and not a convenient source to get science research from. Ruvik didn’t move or speak, he didn’t feel any need to answer the man with more than his eyes, simply looking at the dog, as his little brain seemed to reach a conclusion that that been stated just a few seconds earlier. If he had been a more impatient man, he might have confirmed once again that yes, he did want to out. Yet that would only be redundant. To his little credit, Jimenez did figure out that he did need Leslie Withers if he was to get out, judging by the way the old fool looked to the boy and back again. 

Then the man practically exploded in some fit of anger, starting to yell out a slew of accusations and insults. It was surprising enough for him to blink, looking a tad caught off guard for half a second, before he continued to stare back at the man. He was about to calmly retort with the fact that the doctor must have been deemed useless as well, if he was pushed into this place alongside the other mental patients and lost cases, but he didn’t have time before Sebastian barked out a question. 

Ruvik turned to look at him, looking at the rugged, tired, and more than done man that was forced to try and survive against the burn victim’s inner demons. Sebastian truly was innocent in this matter, and it was unfortunate that he had been caught up in all of this. Yet, this man was sure to have some sense of justice, the way that he looked right now reminded Ruvik of his fathers angry scowl ,when he had done something wrong that the man blamed him for. Blame. Hints of anger that might borderline on betrayal… He should perhaps have told him, but there was no guarantee that the man would have stayed with him then or… 

His head turned towards Jimenez who had just spoken with a look that told Ruvik that he thought he had regained the upper hand. It took little effort to figure out that he wouldn’t like  the next words that would come out of that pseudo-scientist’s mouth. 

_ You didn’t tell him.  _

Pure instinct made him avoid the man’s eyes, looking away from him for just a short second before he regained his composure. He could feel emotions building in his chest, but he wasn’t sure he could put a name on them. They felt suffocating and cold. 

_ Ruben Victoriano is dead.  _

At those words, the bandaged scientist disappeared, replaced with the image of the corpse-like man, dressed in the burnt remains of a hooded cloak. He felt his chest ache at those words, the air around them felt cold and the world had started to throb slightly, something that only the mental patient at the other end of the room had noticed. Ruvik wasn’t looking at either of the people in the room, instead staring blankly before him as he heard Jimenez explain his current existence to the detective. 

Pale eyes snapped to Sebastian as he was called a virus, burnt lips parted to offer a much more proper explanation, but as his former father figure told the detective what had happened to his body, the so called projection changed again, this time showing the organs strewn about in their capsules, the brain, the lungs and the heart, all connected artificially by tubes and vires. The world throbbed and he was back again, to the form of a person. Ruvik couldn’t find any words, he remained in place, only now starting at Sebastian with an emotionless expression as the doctor continued to ramble on. He could feel himself breathing heavier, his mouth felt dry. The throbbing continued, increasing slowly but steadily. It was now clearly noticeable. 

“...Sebastian…” He didn’t manage to say anything else before a loud noise broke through whatever plans he had of saying anything more. The sound came from behind Jimenez and when Ruvik managed to feel it, it had already brought it’s fist down on the man, effectively shutting him up for good. The throbbing of the world stopped as the scientist was now able to focus. He could feel the man move somewhere behind him, having dragged Leslie Withers back towards a chain link fence. 

He hadn’t moved people around previously but he didn’t seem to have much of a choice this time. In these small quarters, Seb would have no chance against that beast, no matter how many bullets he had in his shotgun. He turned around, moving his hand at the same time. The action pushed the two through the fence as he sent them away from the room and away from the monster that had been called there. He couldn’t control where they went, but he did try to separate them; if everything was over and Sebastian would betray him after everything that Jimenez said, at least Ruvik would have a chance of getting to Leslie Withers without having to go through the man that he had, foolishly enough, come to care about. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---- Facts & Headcanons ----
> 
> Joseph Oda's crush: Now this could be canon, not said in a fan-wish-thinking way, but based on the DLC material and his written backstory. His marriage is supposed to have been more or less arranged, and he is supposed to be unhappy, and has a demanding wife, where he has no say in the household; he became a detective partly to spite his family, they don't approve of his choice. ( DLC SPOILER ) In the DLCs, he is a boss that Kidman fights, when he turns borderline Haunted, but still regaining awareness, and his lines are literally saying that Seb is his, and she cannot take him away from him, in fits of anger. He was also very suspicious with Kidman from the very start when she joined, leading to Sebastian thinking that he might have had a crush on the junior detective, which of course wasn't the case; he was suspicious on such a level that he seems overly defensive about Seb.
> 
> Fictional Science: Now, not all of what we say about the fictional science in this story is canon, but it's based on how real science would apply to the logic established within the game.. A lot of it is, however, canon, even if those things are left in the background of the game. 
> 
> Adding a life for Seb: It will be mostly visible in the next work of this series, but Nathan chose to add surroundings and a life to Sebastian, making it all more believable to read. 
> 
> Making scenes make sense: It was a lot of fun to write a new angle on why Ruvik would approach him in the elevator, and why he said those things.


	6. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before he left, Ruvik leaned over him and carefully pressed their lips together in a very small kiss. It was most likely the last and only chance he would get to do such a thing. “I’m sorry you had to be pulled into this.”
> 
> He turned from the tub and hurried out of the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's an epilogue of what happens in our timeline, to the end of the game.

**Sebastian:**   
Fucking Hell, great, wonderful.    
  
Suddenly, Sebastian found himself in a random facility, with once pristine white walls turned grimy and dirty with the passing of time. He needed to think, badly, and the classic tune of music had never been more welcome than this moment.    
  
Only, once he found his way back to the ward, there was neither a mysterious nurse to be found… nor much life, at all? Voicing out ‘hello,’ didn’t help much, and thus, he aimlessly walked into the ward, only to hear a familiar voice speak. The man in that chair, still as obscured by light and smoke as ever, more or less clearly instructed him to go to Beacon Mental Hospital.    
  
_ “That’s where he’ll be. Waiting for ‘him.’ If ‘somebody’ doesn’t get there first there’ll be no way out for anyone.” _

That end of what he heard, well, the detective didn’t waste time on thinking the shadow of a man would answer him just any specifics, but those words could mean a lot of things. Most of all, he had this nagging suspicion that they had something to do with Kidman, and trying to kill Leslie. In theory, maybe, of the very little Sebastian knew at this point, it was fully possible that Leslie could get out, or maybe that there was a way out there at the hospital; it was worth a shot, it was all he had. First, however, he took a deep breath, and barely noticed the nurse walking past him, vision zoning out; he needed a break badly. His knees felt weak, and there was this nauseous feeling, combined with an awful sickening gut feeling, and thus, he simply sat down in the corridor, leaning against the wall, not giving a damned Hell if the nurse would see him.    
  
The coolness of the tiles was extremely welcome against the back of his head; this was more than a fucking headache. The detective refused to quite admit that he felt betrayed, and hurt least of all, no way. He knew the stakes of getting involved with Ruvik. It wasn’t emotions in a stupid sense of friendship, or God forbid, romance, no no, not anything like that. It was a little hard to put a name on the understanding the two men had found, and the support Ruvik had been in this Hell, until this point. At this point, there simply was no way to tell how things would go.    
  
Ruben Victoriano was dead.    
  
No wonder the man was stuck, it all made so much sense, including why everyone said they were inside Ruvik’s mind. They were quite literally in his head, because that was pretty much what remained of the man. Sebastian absolutely hated to admit it, but the first perspective he could really see it all in, was the one of the scientist becoming a victim in all this, of being murdered and used like that by the organisation, which the detective found more and more detest for. It hadn’t been for any heroic purposes perhaps, but the burn victim had at least made an attempt to close the technology off from the organisation, once he realised that he didn’t want them to have their hands on it; it was something he hadn’t cared about in the beginning, and then again, why would Ruvik had cared; the world had never done anything for him; it was rather impressive that he had rebelled at all. Most of all, the man he had met seemed far too real for being simply a virus in a machine, but Hell, what did he know.    
  
Yet… He felt really damned betrayed for not being told anything by Ruvik. He got it, fucking of course, that it would be hard for the man to speak of, but it was rather damned vital. The man, who had been running about in this nightmare for far too long for his own liking, could, somewhere in his mind, understand that even he would sacrifice the poor mental patient if it was his only chance of getting out, but at this point, it seemed like they could, perhaps, get out, if they found their way back to Beacon and the connecting point, perhaps…    
  
He wanted to see Ruvik again, wanted to ask what was going on, wanted to scold him and interrogate him again, but for now, he would have to move, and just swallow down the hard fucking truth; if Ruvik would get in his way, he would have to stop him. Further, Sebastian was sure as Hell not letting any Mobius organisation or Kidman kill Leslie Withers, if anything, that was what he had left; protecting the people around him and getting the Hell out was the little he could do.    
  
He was absolutely certain that he wasn’t protecting Leslie because part of him wanted to give Ruvik a chance to get out, definitely not.   
  


\--

  
The more time passed, the more his tolerance dropped. Where the fucking Hell was Ruvik? As he was standing over the corpse of the same monster that had killed the doctor, a while ago, now having had the toughest battle thus far, nearly shocked he was alive, it was starting to become painfully and aggravatingly annoying. Where had the burn victim gone hiding? The more the man was gone, the more it would look like some sort of hidden agenda, and as if Jimenez had been right, and Sebastian knew precisely that.    
  
At least, he found his way out to the city again; the city was… positively falling apart. Of course, it was more likely to be everyone’s gathered memory of the city, and if felt somewhat encouraging to know that it wasn’t the real apocalypse that was unfolding, even if it sure as Hell looked that way. Well, it was time to move.    
  
It was positively surreal as shit to find that he was getting used to mass slaughtering the Haunted, a little more disheartening and disgusting knowing that they were once upon a time people, well, some of them anyway, not all of them. His and other fellow parts of the Police force’s minds had provided the area with more than enough resources and ammunition to get through this; slowly but surely he was making process back towards the hospital, that seemed entirely untouched by all the chaos surrounding it.    
  
Having to swim through certain parts wasn’t the worst he had done, and the risk of being swallowed by whatever that big thing in the water was jarring, but getting away hadn’t been particularly hard. It nearly felt… too easy? Like things were coming down to being easy, or as if he was getting used to this, bizarre as it was.    
  
Maybe he was simply in the zone now, having found a mindset where he was completing the task at his best performance; hopefully, because the detective knew precisely what failure would mean. He was going to live, definitely.    
  
Well, whatever it was that kept everything going smoothly became thoroughly damned unstable when he finally, finally ran into the familiar face of the man he currently wanted to meet the most; that in itself felt a little bizarre, to rather find Ruvik first, than finding Joseph. It was a logical order of priorities though, one would provide more answers that would be of help to all of them. Even so, finally finding the burn victim didn’t go much as planned. He was heading through a street in town, hoping to find some sort of route he could take a the end, through one of the buildings. Sebastian had, sort of, scouted the area from above, and it seemed like the building was about intact enough. Then, approaching the area that seemed to be open even, the world suddenly held its breath, and he felt pulsating waves hit him through the air.    
  
Leslie…? Perhaps, it had happened on occasion that the mental patient had just that sort of effect on this world, he had only seen it happen with Leslie Withers. It would be wonderful if he could find the albino again now, it would make everything a lot easier.    
  
The detective approached the area he was supposed to enter, only, the gate shut in front of him, and all of a sudden Ruvik finally appeared. He was about to call out to him, to speak to him, but got interrupted fast by the jarring, distorted, scream of a creature to his right. To his surprise, that creature looked like Ruvik, almost identically so, just a bit more dressed, and the face wasn’t visible and-... fuck. Before he could much as react or speak, the burn victim was gone and the place was flooding with Haunted and that strange copy. Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck.    
  
Miraculously, he survived.    
  
Sebastian was fucking pissed. Now it most certainly started looking like Ruvik was just trying to get rid of him. He couldn’t even fathom a logical reason to why, it wasn’t like he would actually get in the scientist’s way, making murder attempts a whole lot more uncalled for.    
  
Worse off, the world was falling apart. The next time Sebastian found his way into the ward, it had nearly cracked up and fallen apart. The nurse, however, seemed fine, even stated that she was irreplaceable, upon having her well being questioned. Well then, the detective decided not to worry about her, he didn’t have the fucking time or energy for it. 

From that point, things were just going down.   
  
At least he had the little upper hand against the traitor spy, once he was reunited with the junior detective; he talked and acted like everything was normal, and Kidman did indeed seem to believe he was as unaware of the situation as he had always been. It seemed like a good plan to stay around her. If she was this much of a double crosser, she would not very likely imagine he would be the one to double cross her; if he seemed like he believed her until the point they found Leslie again, he would likely be able to both find the patient and stop the traitor. It was a plan. Only, that plan went out of hand rather quickly.    
  
Sebastian could barely understand how Joseph had managed to stand the process turning and coming back. Suddenly, it all became so clear why the man had initiated that he wanted to end the suffering, and let that thing take control; the pain was excruciating, way worse than that horrible sound. The stakes were officially raised; he needed to hurry the fuck up. It didn’t help that Kidman locked him into that room, even if he could understand it ot be a sensible response to seeing him turn… fuck. 

_ “I am sorry, but you’re tainted now. He might try to stop me through you.” _   
  
Who? What the fuck? Was she talking about Ruvik? The conversation with her was starting to send imaginary chills down his spine. He wanted to believe Ruvik when he said that he couldn’t control the Haunted, but it was getting harder.    
  
Like some cliché of an angel sent from above, Leslie was the one to find him, and let him out. What the fuck? Well, that was great, because it meant that he had reached the boy first. Perhaps that would be a way to get a proper hold of Ruvik and talk to hi-... no, it would mean he could find a way out of there, the boy seemed to be the key. 

So much for that; the patient disappeared again.    
“Ugh… I am getting tired of playing games…” he stated out loud, sighing loudly, and letting out an aggravated groan. 

This just never ended, and was like a constant game of running into and losing people. At least, finally, finally, he found Joseph. He damned well nearly wanted to hug the man, and was not far from it, but managed to keep his composure. Only, that little happy moment didn’t last. Fuck this damned place.   
  
Kidman wasn’t a terrible driver, at least, but that giant, awful creature was insanely hard to deal with. Sebastian never signed up for fighting clichéd alien horror monsters, but then again, he never signed up for any of this.    
  
_ “I’ve got a theory; we seem to be moved around an awful lot, almost as if by someone’s will” _   
  
Ruvik.   
  
_ “So it’s nearly impossible to get any sense of the geography around here, but the light, Beacon mental hospital, it’s always in the distance.  _ _   
_ _   
_ __ This thing you found me hooked up to, I’ve seen it in more than one place.” 

Joseph was making a lot of sense, the deduction seemed reasonable. Sebastian decided to keep playing innocent, Kidman was, after all, on the bus with them. He wished he could be more direct with Joseph, because honestly, he could not even imagine his partner being part of any Mobius, or any of this. He also wondered if Joseph was putting up an act as well, or if he had truly just figured all those things out; both theories were about equally likely, he supposed.    
  
Well, they got away, aside from Joseph getting wounded, but all in all, this stress filled nightmare was getting more into an area the were familiar with. More warfare, more cities, more threats that were like people; it was a lot easier to navigate and do something about this than terrifying surreal labyrinths and inhuman monstrosities.    
  
Once more, he saw the shadow of who, according to the burn victim, might have been Ruvik’s father.    
  
_ “Haven’t you figured it out, yet? He loves tormenting others, has to let them know he has the upper hand, lays out the bait, gets his victims all worked up... his unholy traps. When it was happening to me, I couldn’t see what was going on. I couldn’t see it, but I couldn’t turn back… I had to know, I had to know the truth, and he knew it.” _

He couldn’t be talking about Ruvik, could he? It couldn’t be anyone else, there was no one else to fit the description. Sebastian had never heard enough of, or interacted enough with the leader of Mobius to realise that the man made it more sound like he was speaking of the Administrator; if he only had been given that piece of information, perhaps the discomfort that was forming inside of him, and distrust, wouldn’t have taken shape. 

The nurse wasn’t making it any better.    
  
_ “If one wishes to survive, one would well to consider who they trust.” _   
  
It was like the entire world and everyone in it wanted him to think that Ruvik was everything they had been claiming from the start, and it was starting to become more that way. Was the man a lot more sociopathic and a much better liar than Sebastian had ever imagined?    
  
Ruvik appeared again, right when he thought he would once more reunite with Joseph, after having to go separate ways when an elevator fell down. Only for a moment.   
  
“Ruvi-..!” The place exploded around him, glass shattering.    
  
“Shit!” Fucking Hell, was the man trying to kill him? It did sure as Hell seem that way, or at the very least to keep him away. No fucking way, he was getting out, and Ruvik was starting to get in his fucking way.    
  
The drop was probably when Kidman shot Joseph. He thought he had things under control, really, even if Kidman kept on spouting nonsense, evidently talking to him as if she expected Sebastian to know absolutely nothing.    
  
Hurt and loss mixed together dangerously, in his already borderline shattered mind, and it was starting to translate into anger. They would pay, all of them. He would find these fuckers and set an end to it, once he came out of this goddamned nightmare. Mobius would not get away with all this.

\----   


**You. Will. Suffer.**

The words were in blood, and didn’t make any bloody sense.

\----   
Whenever Ruvik appeared, he just disappeared again, as if he just appeared to attack.

  
Don’t walk away you fucking idiot, if you do, this is the fucking end of-... Ruvik disappeared out of sight, without a word.    
  
Fuck it, truce broken. He was getting out, if it so meant he’d single handedly kill that man. 

Ruvik had walked away, and seemingly thrown Sebastian into what seemed like an underground laboratory, or well, at least the man did something that caused the whole scenery to change.    
  
Coward.    
  
Sebastian saw memories of Ruvik’s capture, when he had been taken and dissected like an animal, and then put into the machine.    
  
He started finding audio logs, it felt as if Ruvik was addressing him directly, it started sounding like explanations and excuses to why this all had happened.   
  
Fucking coward, he could just find the detective and talk to him, himself.    
  
Fine, this was now war. Ruvik would not find any fucking pity for his state and his suffering if he was doing all this.    
  
That decision was final, or so he thought. Ruvik was a monster to be put down, like everything else in this Godforsaken world.    
  
Finally, Leslie himself guided Sebastian back to Beacon, which seemed to be a good sign, the patient was generally calmer. The place looked exactly the same, as it had been from the beginning.    
  
Even in that place, or this distorted version of it, Ruvik’s audio logs and voice was plaguing him, as if the man wanted pity from him. Fuck that. He would have pitied the man, once upon a time, when he saw a tragic and lost child that seemed so obviously able to be better than all this, but now, that alternative was long gone and lost in this damned abyss.    
  
The maze led out to the yard in the hospital, where he finally caught up to Lesl-... no. That wasn’t Leslie Withers. Only a second of taking in the scenery ahead of him, just a second was all it took for him to see it so clearly.   
  
The young man, smiling up towards the sky in the purest of tranquil joy was a man who had only known what it was like for his entire skin to either be completely numb, or hurt at every touch; it was a man that didn’t know the soft and cold touch of rain in his face, or the gentle breeze of air. Was he too late? Were they all too late? Or perhaps, was this something good?   
  
In all honesty, Sebastian couldn’t help but to just stand and stare… it was a rather shocking revelation, despite all the surreal things that had happened in this place. Somewhere, deep inside of him, stirred a little bit of nearly forgotten, and mostly suppressed, emotion. Ruvik looked back at him, as if awaiting him to join him, before he walked away and into the next hospital building. All Sebastian could do was follow. Fuck, he really hoped this wasn’t a trap; he was so close.

\----   


Fuck, why was this so hard. He needed to stop, to breathe, his pulse going crazy. Had he just burnt Ruvik? Once again they had jumped, and he was suddenly standing in the corridor where his fellow officers had been killed, standing at the end of a row of people being mowed down by a single threat. Sebastian wasn’t sure if he shot the man by instinct, or if something else wa guiding his hand, but the shot, despite hitting the man, didn’t make a single bit of difference. In an instant, he was lift up with a grip around his throat, the other hand holding the gun… fuck, when did Ruvik become this strong? Strangely enough, the situation had been so oddly familiar, yet so different, when he had thrown his lantern at the man, getting away only by setting the scarred man ablaze once more. The scream of terror and pain right then had been… just as bad as his sister; it made Sebastian feel sick.    
  
The rest… well it was equally much of a mess. If he ever saw the fucker again, Sebastian swore that he’d kill the man himself, for all of this. Admittedly, it felt good to step down on the brain, imagining to finally be killing off all the demons, to destroy that sick place, the thought of Ruvik came in second; he wanted the demons dead, rather than the man.   
  
\---   
  
_ “Leave that one, and those two, they’re no going anywhere.” _   
  
Kidman…?   
  
His vision was blurry, but he felt wet and sticky, as if he was laying down in water, or well, perhaps a slightly thicker fluid. Sebastian vaguely caught a glimpse of a woman in a suit, looking much like a nurse he had learnt to recognize. He couldn’t come to at all, and perhaps that was for the better, so that the organisation thought he hadn’t seen anything. Kidman seemed to be aware, she had signalled him to remain silent, discreetly, at least that much he had caught onto.

Later on, stepping outside in the real world felt absolutely bizarre. It was as if his mind refused to understand or at all believe that he was in fact in reality. Was this real…? For a moment, he thought he saw Leslie-... Ruvik, well who knew at this point. He must have been imagining it though, because he heard that terrible noise, and the vision disappeared.    
  
He had imagined that coming out of that nightmare would be a blessing, yet, it seemed like this was only the beginning of his personal Hell.    
  
Maybe he had now become like Ruvik, more alike than he thought, a man so ruined that he couldn’t possible move on again.   
  


  
**Ruvik:**

After sending Sebastian away, he more or less completely lost track of him. He her never had any good sense of the individual people inside this realm but he was able to pinpoint locations where people were for the moment. The easiest to follow were things that distorted the world around them and Sebastian, for all his meddling, was not a person that was able to control things around him in that manner. This wasn’t a good time for him to search for the man either, he was in much more of a  hurry to find Leslie and bring him to the core. That and… He wasn’t sure if he could face Sebastian right now. Not right after he got to know the key facts that the burn victim had found much easier to hide than to even attempt explaining.

Leslie Withers had ended up somewhere but where that place was… Now that was a much harder question. The boy wasn’t distorting the world around him for the moment and strangely enough, he didn’t manage to find any trace of him. How he was able to do that was beyond the man’s knowledge and his only guesses were that either the boy had picked up something about the effects he could cause, or that Ruvik himself was simply too unfocused to be able to trace him. As little as he liked admitting it, it was much more likely that this was his own state that caused his inability to locate the mental patient. 

When teleporting around, simply following what traces he could find, he managed to find Sebastian again. He saw the man from afar, on the other end of a wide street that was completely empty to him. There was a noise beside him and he turned to glance at the… thing that resembled him, his face hidden in shadows and with a horrifying voice. Was that the way Sebastian saw him now…? After all that Jimenez said, Sebastian was seeing him as a monster again? He teleported away as fast as he could, not caring what place he ended up in this time. No, focus on finding the boy, it was much easier to not think. Don’t  think about the trust that had been broken between them. 

There was a tightness in his chest and a pain in his head; after teleporting to yet another strange location, the pain became far too much for his body to handle and he fell together against one of the walls next to him. Ruvik’s body screamed at him for it, which caused him to make an attempt to slow his descent towards the ground by holding onto it. This proved fruitless as he nonetheless collided with the ground, although still sitting up somewhat. It was hard to breathe, so hard that he closed his eyes, focusing only on it as he tried to calm himself down. Just another seizure… it would pass, as all the rest of them always did. Yet, this was different, he could hear Jimenez’ words in his head, he could see Sebastian’s face even if his eyes were closed. When he did open them, he found himself staring down in a big puddle of water that he didn’t even notice sitting in before. His reflection wasn’t his own however, he could see from a top down perspective, the lab where he had been taken apart and the machines that kept his brain alive. 

Ruben Victoriano is dead.

The puddle exploded before him, sending water everywhere in the little room. Ruvik stood up and muttered under his breath. “I created this world. You cannot keep me here.” 

He started to actively search for Sebastian now, it was time to prove to him that he wasn’t that faceless screaming creature. He kept on tracing people until he found both him and the Mobius woman. The man stopped, looking at them from a little away as they managed to take down a couple of Haunted, he decided that it was better to not jump into it as they fought, he would approach as soon as things were a little calmer. 

The chance came in just a few minutes, when they had entered a smaller room. Ruvik reached out for the door handle but a shift in the world caused him to halt. As he looked up, he saw Sebastian start to change into a Haunted. That suffocating feeling came back again, he felt unable to move as he watched the man he had come to apologize to try to attack the Mobius agent. It was almost like he couldn’t believe what was happening, his head felt too heavy and all he could do was watch. As he stood there, witnessing the second person he had cared for being taken away from him, Kidman spotted him. A bullet blasted through the window and his instant reaction was to teleport away, he wanted to go far from the scene but only managed to teleport somewhere inside the same building. 

Upon coming to a stop inside the middle of the room, he made all the equipment in it blast into the walls and up in the ceiling but he couldn’t care less. He stood there in the middle of the room, without thinking, unable to think. It wasn’t until he heard a weak noise behind himself and turned around to find Leslie Withers looking at him that he managed to remember how to think. The boy ran and so he followed, as if in a daze. Instead of simply trying to grab him this time, he decided that it might be better to influence his mind, showing him parts of his own memories in an attempt to calm the boy enough to tell him that he wasn’t going to hurt him. Yet, that annoying Agent got in the way again. Enough to let the boy run away again. 

He was starting to get angry with her, or at least enough for him to decide that he was tired of her meddling. He thought of trying to get her out of the way but before he decided on the best way to do that, he felt something else move in the realm. Something that he hadn’t noticed before… What was that? He turned around, trying to locate it but it moved too fast. He teleported towards it and ended up in the middle of a road upon which a speeding bus was heading straight at him. He could see the woman control the vehicle, the thought that she would try to run him over was amusing enough to cause him to smile. He easily toppled it over and sent it crashing into a building. Surely that would rid him of the Mobius woman once and for all. 

The boy had to be somewhere within the city, the second presence was making him feel quite uncomfortable and so, he kept on search with more desperation. When he found the boy this time, he forcefully infected his head with his memories, he didn’t feel like he had enough time to be gentle as that other presence was sickening him to the core. It felt like an infection, something that might try and take Leslie Withers away from him. To his great annoyance, the woman was alive and interfered again. His didn’t want to be as forceful as he was with the mental patient but he felt like he no longer had a choice. Luckily enough, the infection was going well enough for their minds to start to become linked. All he needed now was a bit more… a bit further and Leslie would come to him. 

As he was about to add the last of himself to the other’s mind, Joseph Oda interrupted first this time. Ruvik turned to follow him but to his surprise, the man with the box head was already chasing the man. He was curious enough to follow them a little, wishing to see just what would happen. The fusing of their minds didn’t require his avatar to be there breathing down the neck of the boy, all things considered. Following the man seemed to be a mistake as another presence caused him to look inside the room to his left. 

Sebastian. 

His first thought was relief beyond relief that the man was not a Haunted that laid dead in the room where he had left them in, followed by a fear that made him cause an explosion so big in the kitchen that it should stop the man from getting anywhere closer to him. Stay away, Seb… It was safer like that. I don’t know what I’ll do if you lose yourself.

It seemed like his last effort had worked. Leslie Withers mind was now influenced enough by his for them to be connected, he could feel it... Now all he needed to do was move the boy towards the core and.. There was that presence again. The one that cut through him like he was being violated. Ruvik felt it move three times in total before he caught up to it, appearing in a subway train. In front of him was Sebastian once again. They were much closer now and in another stab of fright, he turned around and teleported away as fast as he could, not realizing that he distorted the world around the detective in his escape. 

Ruvik continued to look for the presence in the city, he couldn’t find any trace of it, which of course made him feel all the more bothered by it. He chose to return to Leslie, whom he could easily synchronize with and such, they walked together over the courtyard, towards the doors in front of them. When synching up with the boy, he realized that the albino had found Sebastian and lead him towards the hospital, yet before he managed to figure out why, he was distracted by something else. Rain. He raised his head and looked up at the cloudy sky above them, for a few seconds, he forgot everything he needed to do as well as the pain that came with the thoughts of Sebastian. The drops hit his face, cold, gentle… real. He hadn’t felt the touch of rain since he was a child. It was alien and so indescribably wonderful at the same time. Ruvik slowly closed their eyes, unaware of the smile that formed on his lips. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this peaceful, had he ever? He turned his face a little, feeling the droplets slide down his face. His bliss was suddenly interrupted by the knowledge of someone standing behind him. He turned around, looking to find Sebastian. 

_ “Leslie?”  _

The boy smiled at the man before slowly walking away and towards the doors. He shouldn’t affect Seb in this form and it felt so good to know. Yet he didn’t have time to chat. Well inside Beacon, he separated from the boy and moved away to clear the way for him, making sure that Leslie could move without any danger. 

It seemed like his own memory was affecting this place, he saw officers that he was certain that he had already killed. No risks. He chased after them, not stopping to think about why they were suddenly four and not three. The last one shot at him and he teleported over to him as well, grabbing the man around the neck. To him, it looked like any other officer, he wasn’t going to let anyone hurt Leslie now, not when he was this close. The man had almost dropped the gun when something slammed down on his face. 

Fire.

He was on fire again. Ruvik let out a scream and glared at the cop, sending the man off to another pocket of his mind to make sure that he would be out of the way. It hurt so much… He let the avatar disappear, letting his consciousness return to the core where he waited for the boy. 

Sebastian arrived first. He almost wanted to talk to him but he didn’t have time before his actual savior came running. Finally, finally… He called Leslie Withers to himself and placed his hands on his head, now fully joining their minds together. 

___ 

He opened his eyes to find himself in one of the tubs, the gel sticking to his hair and clothes as he sat up and disconnected himself. There were so many new sensations and emotions that he had to shut everything out before he could do anything else. Ruvik was outside of STEM… He was free and for the first time in close to forty years… He could feel things. No time to waste, someone was sure to come sooner or later and he did not want to be here when that happened. 

He stumbled out of the tub and started to search for Sebastian. He found him and was unable to resist the urge to touch him. He allowed his pale hand to slide over the rough features, taking in the feeling of his skin and the prickling of his stubble. No time. Ruvik quickly moved to the machine and started to work through the interface. Simple enough, in just half a minute, he had disconnected the man as well as the part of the machine that kept check on his vital functions. To someone else, it would look like he was dead, giving Seb a chance to get away when he did wake up. It wasn’t much but it was all he could give him. 

Before he left, Ruvik leaned over him and carefully pressed their lips together in a very chaste kiss. It was most likely the last and only chance he would get to do such a thing. “I’m sorry you had to be pulled into this.”

He turned from the tub and hurried out of the hospital. 

He didn’t get far, however, as the outside was surrounded by policemen and ambulance personnel. He was quickly apprehended and moved towards one of the ambulances, Ruvik started to object but something outside the gates caught his attention and cut off all other thoughts. A simple black car. Mobius. Did they know he had escaped? There was no way of knowing… It seemed like he would have to play Leslie Withers for now, only to stay safe. He had finally gotten out, he even had a body that could feel. This was no longer his world and he didn’t have any control over it but he was not losing more than this. 

Ruvik let himself be moved inside the ambulance, pretending that he didn’t understand anything the woman next to him said. Slowly, a smile spread on his lips as he looked up in the roof of the vehicle. 

Rebirth. A second chance at living. 

Perhaps, he might even be able to see the detective once more, to meet one of only two people that he had come to care for. Perhaps even touch him with hands that could feel. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---- Facts & Headcanons ----
> 
> #RuvikDidNothingWrong: One of the main reasons that we find The Evil Within interesting is that they paint up a story the same way a gothic novel does, historically speaking; that Ruvik is assumed to be evil based on his horrid appearance. Nearly everything 'bad' that happens in the game and DLC material is based on actions people choose, thinking that Ruvik is evil, rather than anything the scientist does himself. When writing this, we wanted to paint up the full perspective of Ruvik's situation. Ruvik merely moves them out of his way, and very rarely aims to kill them with effort, unless they threaten him first, and he canonly has little influence over the creations composed from his trauma, traumatic experiences that have been inflicted upon him by his surrondings. 
> 
> Mobious killing Leslie: ( DLC spoiler ) Mobius wants to use Leslie as a replacement core once Ruvik is out of the way, and they want Kidman to retrieve Leslie; she decides to kill him to stop everything all on her own. However, to Sebastian and the others, it would probably look like the organisation is out to kill Leslie. 
> 
> "He might try to stop me through you:" According to the DLC material, it is more likely that Kidman refers to the Administrator, since he had gotten a hold of power in there, through her, and is the one actually trying to stop her from killing Leslie. Of course, Sebastian wouldn't know that. 
> 
> You. Will. Suffer: In all honesty, it makes more sense if this is either a warning or a bait by the Administrator, that canonly has influence over this world, to make Ruvik seem like a monster.

**Author's Note:**

> \----- Facts & Headcanons -----
> 
> Ruvik's condition:  
> The creators of The Evil Within has clearly stated that his nerves are badly damaged, and thus, he has strong headaches and seizures, very likely then to consist of shaking and losing control of his body, combined with harsh pain. That isn't exactly the ideal image of a terribly scary monster. 
> 
> Burned skin:  
> Teddy decided to write upon realism, while the creators say that Ruvik cannot feel the burnt parts of his skin at all, it makes more sense of he can feel the pressure in his muscles, but not exactly his skin. Otherwise he could not use his hands with the precise performance he shows throughout the game, or at least, that would be much, much, much harder.


End file.
